Liberty Belle: The First Avenger
by Elphaba818
Summary: Rewrite - All ten-year-old Jamie Harper wanted when her older brother went off to war was to find a way to help him, to join him overseas. She'd never have guessed, however, that she'd be selected as the first child to be subjected to a medical experiment in order to grow up as the perfect soldier. Now, with Captain America, Liberty Belle must fight against Hydra, and save America.
1. A Sister's Devotion

**Hello, dear readers, both old and new, and welcome to the revised version of Liberty Belle.**

 **To all my old readers, especially my devoted reader ZabuzasGirl, I'd like to take a moment and say thank you for never giving up on this story considering it underwent a long hiatus and there was once a time I seriously considered just throwing it away. Thankfully, that never happened, and it is now currently being rewritten for all of you to enjoy! Please note, since this version has been rewritten, I should note that there have been some changes to Jamie. For starters, she is a bit younger in this version than she was in the original, and her personality has been tweaked a tiny bit. She will be childish and immature, but still smart, and she'll have to deal with the reality of war firsthand, and there will be scenes in this version that did not happen in the original story or in the movie, but are still important to the storyline of this fanfiction. Even if you are fans of the original, I believe you will enjoy this version more.**

 **To any new readers, I'm very happy that you haven taken the time to read this chapter at the very least, and I hope you will take the time to read the rest of the story once it is posted. Feel free to read this and the older version of Liberty Belle. As a promise to my most loyal reader ZabuzasGirl, the old version will remain up... for now. I personally didn't want to keep it, but she begged me to have it stay up, so it will remain online until this rewrite is complete. The old Avengers version is going to be scrapped, though. As soon as this first chapter is posted, it's going in the garbage since only one chapter was ever written and posted.**

 **I do hope that all of you like this rewrite!**

 **Please, read and review to inspire me to write more!**

 **EDIT 5/22/15:**

 **Upon rereading this first chapter, I realized I forgot to write an important paragraph pertaining to Trent's pocket watch and Jamie's plush panda during the opening scene when I first posted this, so I reuploaded this chapter in order to include it. It's important because I needed to stress how important these items are to Trent and Jamie.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: A Sister's Devotion**

 _The docks of New York City were clustered with great crowds of people. All across it, various young men as young as eighteen to as old as mid-to-late thirties were getting ready to board a great ship that would take them across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, where they'd would receive their army encampment stations. The date was May 17_ _th_ _, 1943, and the latest batch of newly drafted, able-bodied American men was being shipped out to fight in the 107_ _th_ _division against the Nazi army. All across the docks, the new recruits were busy saying goodbyes to their families. The all hugged and kissed their parents or sweetheart's goodbye, and patted the heads of their siblings or even their own children. Everyone knew that there was a good chance that this would be the last time that they would ever see them again._

 _At the back of the docks, a last minute arrival was pulling up in an old, rusting Sedan. A young man with dark brown, matted hair already dressed in his beige army uniform stepped out of the car's front passenger seat, a large, burly duffel bag slung over his left shoulder. He reached into his pocket for a moment, and took out a vintage, silver pocket watch. He flicked it open, and read the time as he slammed the car door shut behind him before shoving the antique accessary back into his pants leg for safekeeping. There was a patch on the shoulder sleeve of his uniform depicting three half triangles pointing upwards, revealing his rank as Sergeant._

 _As the driver of the car, a middle-aged, balding man with blonde hair stepped out and nodded to the new recruit, the young Sergeant turned and opened the back right passenger door._

" _Come on, sis, we're here," said the soon-to-be-soldier._

" _No! Get back in the car, Trent!" called out the voice of a young girl still hidden inside the vehicle. "You shouldn't have to go!"_

" _I don't have a choice, James. The draft demands it. Now please, come on out so I can give you a proper goodbye."_

" _Why should I?" snapped the voice again. "You're going to abandon me here anyway whether I say goodbye or not!"_

" _Now, Jamie, be reasonable," said the older man this time, trying to calm down the situation as best as he could. "You're more than old enough to understand that that's unfair. It's not your brother's fault that the war has demanded all able-bodied young men to enlist."_

" _Yes, Mr. Harkins," meekly said the female voice._

" _Glad to hear you're willing to be reasonable, finally," Trent said. "Now, are you going to come out and smile and hug me – your only big brother – goodbye, or are you going to send me off to war with your arms crossed and a scowl plastered on that cute face of yours?"_

 _There was a brief pause, and then finally a loud sigh could be heard from inside the car followed by what sounded like a shaky intake of breath._

" _I-I'm coming out," said the girl finally, her voice now very obviously filled with suppressed grief._

 _And indeed, moments later, the hidden girl finally stepped out of the car; a small plush panda tucked under one of her arms as a sense of comfort. She was a tiny thing, only reaching up to Trent's waist in terms of height. From looking at her, you'd never guess she was actually ten years old, what with her small stature combined with the fact that her mousy brown hair was pulled back into two low pigtails by two white ribbons, and her face still clung onto her childhood baby fat, making her two light brown eyes look very big on her round face. All together, she looked as though she could pass for being eight or nine years old very easily._

" _There now, see?" said Sergeant Trenton Harper, smiling gently as he patted his sister's head. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"_

 _Jamie Harper said nothing in reply. She just hung her head and willed herself not to cry. She didn't want to see her brother leave. In her mind, this was unfair. He was only nineteen, barely past the required recruitment age to go and fight in the war against the Nazi soldiers. And even though the draft demanded he go, it was still wrong, because he was all she had._

 _Trent seemed to sense that Jamie still wasn't fully accepting of this whole situation, and set his hand on her tiny shoulder before turning to face the man who had been kind enough to drive them to the harbor._

" _Would you excuse us for a few moments, please, Mr. Harkins?" Trent asked politely. "I'd like a chance to say goodbye to Jamie properly."_

" _Of course, take all the time you need," said Harkins with a nod._

" _Not enough time to say everything, I'm afraid," said Trent with a sheepish grin as he looked down at his pocket watch again and checked the time. "The ship is gonna leave soon."_

" _Well, in case I don't get the chance to say it again, good luck to you son," said Mr. Harkins, thumping his hand on Trent's shoulder in farewell, "and be safe, you hear?"_

" _I will," said Trent with a nod. "You and your wife will take good care of my sister, won't you, sir?"_

" _Swear it on my mother's grave," Harkins promised. "She'll be staying with us as an extended guest only. So long as you're still okay, no one'll be adopting her on my watch."_

" _Thank you, sir," said Trent, and with one last final nod in farewell to the kind man, Trent gently steered his sister off to the side, slightly away from other people who were saying their own goodbyes._

 _As soon as they were alone, the tears Jamie had been holding back finally began running freely down her face, and she wailed rather loudly as she dropped her panda toy, and flung both her arms around Trent's body._

" _I don't want you to go, Trent!" she sobbed, clinging onto her older brother with all her strength. "Please, stay here with me!"_

" _Jamie, you know I can't. I've been drafted. I have to go."_

" _But… if you die… I won't have anyone!" she said. "I'll be all alone! So please, Trent, please don't go!"_

 _Slowly, Trent got down on his knees to her level, and gently patted her head. He knew this was very hard for his sister. Hell, it was hard even for him. He knew that if something were to possibly happen to him while overseas, his sister really would be an orphan then._

 _It'd been a little over a year now that the two of them had survived the car crash that took their parents from them. It'd been very hard on Trent and Jamie, Jamie only being eight-and-a-half and just a few months short of nine at the time and so sad to have lost her mother and father both at once, and Trent being emotionally hurt by the loss as well as now way in over his head. As he was over the age of eighteen when their parents died, he did not need to be sent to the local orphanage, and as Jamie's only living family, that placed her in his custody, keeping her from having to go and live there either. It'd been a hard adjustment for the two siblings at first, having to go on without their parents with Trent as the head of the family now as he struggled to balance his time between completing his final year in high school, spending time in his school's baseball team so he could hopefully earn a college scholarship at the end of the school year, working double shifts at his part-time job at a local bookstore in order to pay for expenses, and taking care of Jamie._

 _Jamie herself hadn't had an easy transition to just living with her brother either. She'd always been a kind, friendly little girl around her peers. She was indeed quiet around others, but she did try to be nice to her classmates in school even though she didn't really have any friends. After their parents died, however, the kind, friendly little girl Trent knew his sister to be turned completely withdrawn. She was still nice to people if they spoke to her, but she really didn't even try to make friends anymore. The only reason she spoke up on her own accord in school was to answer questions. She was a smart girl, and her grades weren't too bad. Her teachers, despite being worried about her emotional state, all agreed that her grades remained unchanged at several B's and occasional A's._

 _That made Trent's forced departure all the more difficult between the two siblings. Although they'd always been close before, their parent's deaths had brought them even closer over the past year. They only had each other, and if Trent died in this war, Jamie would be all alone._

" _It won't be forever, Jamie," said Trent. "You'll be going to the orphanage only temporarily because the law dictates you have to, but I swear that Mr. Harkins has already made arrangements for you to stay there only as a guest, not as an official orphan up for adoption."_

" _Unless you die," Jamie added at once._

 _Trent paused at those words. "If… if something does indeed happen to me, then yes. I can't change that. But even if I do… know this: I'll always be with you. Just like Mom and Dad are always with us."_

" _It's not fair!" Jamie protested, burying her face into the shoulder of his uniform as she hugged him tightly. "Please, don't go!"_

" _Jamie," said Trent, pulling away from her slightly so he could look her in the eye. "This isn't what I want to do, but it's what I have to do. Take a look around," he paused, gesturing to all the young men that were either still saying goodbye to their loved one's or beginning to board the ship. "Every man here is doing what they need to do so we can end this war, and that includes me. You, however, need to stay here and do your part to end this war, too."_

" _My part?" said Jamie, her teary eyes gazing at him questioningly. "I don't understand. What's my part?"_

" _Supporting me," said Trent, giving her shoulder a squeeze. He reached down, picked up the stuffed panda that Jamie had dropped, and put it back in her arms as he continued. "You need to let me go so I can protect our great nation, and be waiting for me here with little Pannie here, ready to tackle me with a great big loving hug for when I return. Can you do that for me?"_

 _Reluctantly, Jamie started to nod, but then frowned and stared at Trent curiously._

" _If you have to go so badly, why can't I go with you?" she asked. "If it's so important for you to go, can't I go to? I can help you defend our country, and protect you when bullets start flying!"_

 _At her words, Trent openly laughed. "Sorry sis, but I don't think the 107_ _th_ _Infantry would appreciate me having my little ten-year-old sister tagging along for the ride."_

 _The ship behind him suddenly let out a blasting honk; the signal that it would be leaving within five minutes time._

" _Alright, I must go now," said Trent. Jamie started tearing up again at these words. "There's no need to cry, I'll be back before you know it."_

" _You promise?" Jamie whimpered._

" _Cross my heart," Trent said, making the motion against his chest. "And I also promise to write to you."_

" _You will? Really?"_

" _Of course, and you better believe I'll be wanting letters from you, too. Think you send me letters back?"_

 _Jamie earnestly nodded._

" _Send me your address, and I'll write to you, too! Every day! I promise!"_

" _I'll be looking forward to them."_

 _Again, Jamie whimpered, and then completely flung herself into Trent's embrace one last time. Trent didn't protest. He, too, wrapped his arms around his little sister, and hugged her tightly._

" _Be safe, Trentie," Jamie whispered._

" _I will, James, I promise, and besides," he added, smiling brightly as he took the pocket watch back out of his pocket and showed it to her. "I have Dad's pocket watch with me. So long as I have this, I know Dad's protecting me, just like how he'll always protect you so long as you have Pannie with you."_

 _Jamie smiled, and hugged Pannie to her chest. Her panda bear had been a present to her from her late Dad, while Trent's pocket watch had been a family heirloom in their family for many years, always passed down from father-to-son._

" _I love you so much, big brother."_

" _I love you, too, little sis. With all my heart."_

 _Kissing her cheek, Trent got to his feet, shoved his father's silver ornament back into his pocket, collected his duffel bag, and nodded goodbye one last time to Mr. Harkins who had started to approach before making his way toward the gangway doors of the ship. As he was about to board, he turned, and waved goodbye to Jamie one last time before vanishing inside the ship._

 _Jamie refused to leave the dock with Harkins until the ship left port. She stood with him in the crowd, waving goodbye to the ship as it sailed off across the Atlantic. As the two made their way back to the crowd so Harkins could take her to the orphanage, he tried to console the poor girl._

" _Don't worry too much about your brother, Jamie," he said to Jamie as they climbed into the Sedan. "I saw how much he loves you when you two were saying goodbye. There's no force on earth that can keep him from coming back home to you."_

" _He won't have to," said Jamie, her panda on her lap as she buckled her seat belt._

 _At her words, Harkins turned around in his seat, and stared at her incredulously. "What'd you say, Jamie?"_

" _He won't have to," she repeated._

 _Mr. Harkins grew very concerned by what she just said. As he started up the car and drove away from the docks, he tried to keep his voice steady._

" _I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."_

" _He won't have to come back home to me," Jamie explained, "because I just made decision."_

" _A decision?" said Harkins, unable to hide the worry from his voice._

" _Yes," said Jamie, actually smiling as she nodded to him. "I've decided that I'm going to where my Trent is stationed. I'm going to join the army and help him!"_

 _There was a definite pause. Then Harkins openly chuckled._

" _Ah, that'll be mighty brave of you," he said, very much amused by her words. "Gonna go join him overseas? Kill them Nazi's?"_

 _Jamie scowled at his words. "I'm not kidding! I'm gonna help him!"_

" _Sure you will," said Harkins, still chuckling under his breath. "You're only ten, Jamie. You're nowhere near the recruiting age!"_

" _I don't care what you say, Mr. Harkins!" Jamie snapped as the Sedan pulled up in front of New York City Orphanage. "I'm going to help Trent! And all of America! I'll make it overseas! I'll make it to Germany! Just you wait and see!"_

 _Harkins just grinned as he and Jamie got out of the car and started up the pathway to the main entrance of the building. His newest ward's dedication to her loving older brother was certainly admirable, but her antics of wanting to help him were most definitely amusing._

" _Whatever you say, Jamie," he said as opened the door and ushered her inside. "Whatever you say…"_

* * *

The alarm clock blared loudly on the nightstand beside Jamie's bed. Jamie groaned in frustration at the interruption in her heavenly slumber and wearily opened her eyes. It was eight-thirty. Breakfast would be served for herself and all the other kids in the orphanage in half-an-hour. Fighting back a yawn, she sat up in her bed, rubbed her eyes, and yawned as she got up and went over to her closet.

It'd been a little over a month now that Trent had gone off to war and had been forced to leave her in the care of the New York City Orphanage, and ever since then, she'd had the same reoccurring dream of the day he left. It was becoming somewhat annoying for her to view it every night while she slept. It was almost as though the dream was taunting her somehow, telling her that it would continue to bother her unless she manage to fulfill the promise she'd made the day he'd left.

She would join the army and help Trent and the rest of America. Somehow. Some way.

Dressing quickly but silently and pulling her hair back into her usual two low pigtails tied with white ribbons, Jamie grabbed her wallet that had been filled only the night before with her weekly allowance, and stuffed it in the pocket of her dress, as well as a few pieces of stationary and a pen, before quietly opening the door to her room and peeking nervously out into the hallway. Ever since she first came here, she'd been the target of many bullies in the orphanage, what with her adamant determination to join the military and fight in the war. She'd been tormented more times than she could count, and this morning she really just wanted to go downstairs, quickly scribble out a new letter to Trent before breakfast started, and scarf down a small apple as she tore out of the building to mail her letter before the bullies came down for breakfast. Maybe if she was lucky, she might even be able to sneak out of the building for an hour or two without the Harkin's knowing. Try her luck once again at getting a medical exam at one of the army recruiting offices located throughout the city. Other than leaving for a couple minutes to mail her letters to her brother, she really wasn't supposed to leave the orphanage unsupervised.

Tiptoeing down the hall to the staircase, Jamie silently stole down the stairs, glancing over her shoulder after every couple of steps to make sure none of the older kids had her creeping down the hall. Better to be paranoid, in her opinion, than be cocky and get easily surrounded and beaten up.

She got lucky. It didn't seem like any of the other kids were up yet. Just her. She made her way to the dining hall, a little more bounce in her step knowing she'd have some time to herself this morning before the daily torment began.

She poked her head through the doorway, just as one last precaution. Thankfully, the only people up were Mr. Harkins and his wife Julia, and one other sixteen-year-old boy that had his own part-time job as a newspaper boy at the nearby paper stand. The sixteen-year-old was already on his way out the door with an apple in hand, and only briefly nodded to Jamie as he passed by her on his way out. Jamie nodded back to him, even smiling and waving goodbye. She had nothing against that particular boy. He was among the group of kids in the orphanage that was too old to care about her odd tendencies about wanting to join the army. Granted, there were a couple of older kids that did think her antics were down right stupid and hilarious, but the majority of the kids that cornered her were among the age group of twelve to fourteen. Anyone younger or older than that was generally a neutral party, but still avoided her as they either thought to be extremely weird, or they did not want to be targeted by the bullies from doing nothing more than simply wanting to be her friend.

"Morning, Jamie," said Mr. Harkins, nodding warmly in her direction as she walked in. "Bacon and eggs?"

"Just an apple, please, sir," said Jamie politely. "I just want to write a quick letter to Trent and go and mail it before the other kids get up."

"Nonsense!" chirped Julia Harkins, quickly bringing a plate and a set of silverware to Jamie's table as she sat down. "You're a growing girl! You need a filling breakfast!"

"Not at the expense of being taunted," Jamie countered. "Please, ma'am, just an apple will do…"

"You've skipped breakfast for three days in a row now," said Mrs. Harkins rather sternly, "and I know for a fact that I didn't see you in here at dinner last night. Eat, or else you're not leaving this room."

With a sigh, Jamie pulled the plate and utensils to her and tried to scarf the meal down as fast as she could.

"Whoa, slow down there, Jamie!" urged Mr. Harkins. "You'll choke!"

"I'm in a rush, sir," Jamie said between bites. "I want to go and mail a letter to Trent."

"You can do that after breakfast," said Mrs. Harkins firmly. "You're so tiny! A healthy diet will help you grow!"

"But ma'am–"

"No excuses," said Mrs. Harkins, waving her finger in Jamie's face. "Finish your plate, or else you'll be excused from tonight's field trip to the World Expo."

Knowing there was no way she could win this battle and wanting desperately to join the other kids to tonight's field trip to the World Exposition of Tomorrow, Jamie just nodded and cleaned her plate, eating at a respectable pace this time. As soon as she was finished, she pushed it away, took out the pieces of stationary and pen, and began to hastily write out her letter.

 _Dear Trent,_

 _It's been very boring here at the orphanage lately. Like I said in my last letter, all the kids here think I'm weird, as I'm still trying to enlist in the army and join you overseas. I know you told me in your last letter to stop going into recruiting offices in the city and asking to take the health exams, but I can't stop myself. I want to help you Trent, and all of America, too! I'm going to join your platoon very soon, be it as a soldier or just as a helper around the army encampments, just wait and see!_

 _Other than that, there's not much to tell you about what's been going on here. The bullies are still tormenting me, with Nick and Becky as the ringleaders of the group. I swear, the other day when I was walking back to the orphanage by myself from the store when I was buying some more stationary so I could write more letters to you, they and a bunch of other kids jumped out of nowhere and pulled me in an alleyway and took turns hitting me. I still have the bruises. My battle wounds, you might say…_

 _I miss you Trent. Mr. and Mrs. Harkins are nice enough to me, but they're both a bit dimwitted about all the bullying going on here. They've caught the other kids teasing me on several different occasions, but they're both oblivious to the fact that they've beaten me up more than once. I know that if you were here, you'd show them who's boss! You'd get right up in each of their faces, scare them senseless as you warn them not to so much as ever look at me again, and be the best protective big brother I could ever want, and I could never ever want another brother, because you're the best big brother in the world! No one else could ever replace you! So don't die out there, Trent! I need you to come back home to me!_

 _Write back soon, Trent! It's been over a week since I got a letter from you! I need to know that you're okay! I know you said Dad's pocket watch would keep you safe, but I want more reassurance than that!_

 _Love,_

 _Jamie_

Smiling fondly at the finished letter, Jamie nodded to herself as she grabbed the blank envelope, and scribbled down the address of her brother's army encampment. She stuffed the letter inside, and sealed it off with a lick to the sticky part. She made to stand and exit the dining hall from the main entrance, but noises from the hallway caught her ear. The other children were waking up, the bullies most likely among them. She'd have to leave discreetly through the back door in the kitchens.

She slipped quietly out of the dining hall, and unnoticed by either of the other Harkins, as they were now bidding good morning to the other kids, snuck stealthily past the old, grumpy old man who was the cook, and slinked out the back door into the alleyway behind the orphanage.

As soon as she was outside, she took a deep breath, enjoying the crisp air and the morning sunshine on her face. It was truly a beautiful day, perfect for taking a morning stroll. If she was lucky, maybe she could stay out all day, avoiding the other kids until it was time to go to the World Expo.

With that thought in mind, she smiled to herself, and set off down the street to find the nearest mailbox. Dropping it happily into its metallic opening, Jamie skipped away from it, her smile still plastered on her face. She didn't want to go back to the orphanage yet. She was in too good a mood to allow it to be spoiled by the others, but the question remained of what she could do in the meantime. She only had about ten dollars worth of saved up pocket money in her pocket. The Harkins would surely give her and all the other kids at least ten dollars more later that night before the Expo to spend on ride admissions and junk food, and she wanted to save it till then in order to pay for more things.

She looked around herself and considered her options. She really didn't want to head back to the orphanage yet, and going to the playground from here required bus admission, which she was not willing to spend, as was the admission to the local movie theatre. What could she do in the meantime?

Her eyes fell upon the Army Recruiting Office right across the street, and a grin spread across her face. It'd been over a week since she'd last tried her luck at trying to get into the army. She had more than enough time to try again right now. There was no force on earth that would keep her here in America while Trent was fighting for his life at this exact moment in Europe. Even if it meant one day just packing up her meager belongings in the orphanage and sneaking aboard one of the war ships that periodically shipped off from the harbor, she'd get to Europe. She'd help her brother, one way or another.

With her destination she mind, she smiled, skipped merrily across the street, and entered the recruiting office.

* * *

"O'Connell, Michael," called out the voice of the doctor in the recruiting office toward the line of men sitting in chairs reading the newspaper in only their pants as they awaited the results of their health exams. A young man toward the end of the row set aside his paper and stood up upon hearing his name before going toward the back of the line of young men waiting to speak with said doctor

"Kaminsky, Henry," called out the doctor again. Again, another man stood up from the row, and joined the end of the line.

In the row, one young man had his nose buried in his paper, and upon reading the latest article about the war in Europe, he sighed and turned to the young, short and skinny blonde man sitting beside him.

"Boy, a lot of guys getting killed over there," he muttered quietly to the blonde. It kind of makes you think twice about enlisting, huh?"

"Rogers, Steven," called out the doctor, and the young blonde man set aside his paper and stood up.

"Nope," he told the man over his shoulder before stepping forward.

Before he could take more than a couple steps though, the door to the recruiting office opened, and he saw a little girl of maybe eight or nine enter. She looked around curiously as the door closed behind her, and to Steve's complete surprise, her eyes locked with his. She stared at him for a moment, but then smiled, nodded kindly to him, and looked away as she approached the front desk in front of the door. He was genuinely surprised to see a little girl in here, but then again, it really wasn't any of his business as to who she was or what she doing there. For all he knew, she was visiting her mom, who was one of the volunteer nurses here, or maybe she was selling subscriptions for Girl Scout cookies. Either way, he was much too nervous as to whether he'd at last passed his health exam to worry too much about her.

Ever since the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and therefore forced America to join the war by enforcing the draft, he and his friend James 'Bucky' Barnes had instantly tried to enlist. Bucky had passed his health exam with flying colors, but he had been instantly rejected. He had too many health problems. The army didn't want him, but Steve wasn't going to let stupid rules tie him down.

There were men across the sea right now risking their lives. He was only twenty-five. He may be small and skinny, but he believed that he had no right to be doing any less than them. What was he supposed to be doing while those in the army laid down their lives? He should be doing the same as them.

Eventually, it was his turn to speak with the doctor, and he stepped up in front of him as the doctor shifted through his medical records.

"Rogers…" the doctor trailed off as he flipped through his paperwork. "What'd your father die of?"

"Mustard gas," Steve promptly replied. "He was in the 107th Infantry. I was hoping I could be assigned–"

"Your mother?" the doctor interrupted, not interested in listening to the details.

"She was a nurse in a TB ward," Steve explained. "But she got sick, couldn't shake it."

The doctor nodded absent-mindedly as he skimmed through Steve's medical files. The kid had more health conditions than any of the other men he'd already seen put together: asthma, scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, simusitus, frequent colds, high blood pressure, easily fatigued, heart trouble, his own admitting that he'd shared a household with someone with tuberculosis, and it seemed that one of his parents had had diabetes… the list just went on and on.

After a long pause of scanning the list, the doctor finally looked back up at Steve and shook his head.

"Sorry, son," he told Steve.

Steve sighed. "Look, just give me–"

"What'd you mean I can't enlist?! You need all the help you can get, right?!"

Steve cut himself off as he, and every other head in the room whipped around. The little girl he'd seen enter the building was addressing the receptionist at the main desk, her hands on her hips as she glared furiously at the woman. The receptionist gulped, not really sure what to say to the child, and when she at last spoke up, her voice failed to have any sort of authority or anger present.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we can only accept people over the age of eighteen, and you're–"

"That's garbage!" the girl snapped, her two mousy brown pigtails flailing about wildly as she spoke. "It's because I'm a girl, isn't it? Well, that's not a problem!" She turned toward the waiting room. "Somebody bring me some scissors!" she shouted. "I can look and act like a boy!"

"Little girl, I'm sorry," said the receptionist, "but I can't allow someone your age to take the exam."

"You have to allow!" the girl snapped. "Because unlike the last couple times I've come here, today I'm not leaving until a doctor says I'm deemed fit to go to Europe!"

Steve stared. This girl was demanding to be enlisted? And this wasn't the first time she'd done this? He really wasn't sure what to think.

The receptionist gulped. She could tell that this child wasn't going to take no for an answer. She'd have to try another approach.

"Listen, I'm sure you must think it's wonderful, going and fighting for your country," she said managing the best smile she could. "But it's truly dangerous work. If you really want to help the war effort, you should go and help your friends collect scrap metal, or help your mother volunteer at the Red Cross–"

"I don't have any friends, and my mother is dead!" the little girl retorted. "And I'm certainly not going to wheel around a red wagon collecting metal when my big brother's in Europe laying down his life!"

"Well, I'm sure your brother wouldn't want–"

"This isn't about what my brother wants!" the girl retorted, and by now she was beginning to shout. "This is about me wanting to help the only family member that I have left! Now, let me see a doctor!"

Again, the receptionist gulped, clearly unsure of what to say to her. That's when another doctor stepped in, and grabbed one of the girl's arms.

"Listen, kid," said the doctor in a firm voice as he dragged her back toward the entrance to the recruiting office. "This whole act of you wanting to be a soldier was somewhat amusing the first three times you came here demanding to be recruited, but our patience with you is running thin. Go play somewhere else from now on, 'kay?"

"I'm not playing, though! I need to become a soldier and help Trent!" the little girl screamed as the doctor opened the door, and pushed her outside before shutting it firmly and locking it. There were several bangs on the door for a moment, as the girl was obviously hitting the door very hard so as to be let back inside, but then they stopped, and everyone heard the kid growl in angry frustration before loud footfalls resounded to tell them that she was at last leaving.

For a little while, everyone in the recruiting office was completely silent as they tried to process what had just happened. All the young men awaiting their physicals were somewhat accustomed to hearing kids on the street say that they planned to join the army when playing soldier, but never had they'd seen a child so adamant about joining that they'd marched right up to a recruiting office and demand to be enlisted.

Slowly, Steve turned back to the doctor who'd been reading him his results.

"Wow…" said Steve slowly, his thoughts still centered on the little girl.

The doctor just shrugged. "It's not really so much as a 'wow' around here anymore to the rest of us…" he muttered.

"What do you mean?" asked Steve, very much puzzled.

"You heard my colleague. That girl's been coming here at least three times a week for the past month now, all but demanding to see a doctor so she can go and fight in Europe. She's always insistent that she needs to get to Europe, as that's where her older brother's stationed, apparently."

"She's been here that many times?" Steve couldn't hide the surprise from his voice.

"Yeah, it's gotten old fast. Now, back to you…" The doctor checked Steve's results again. "Sorry, you're ineligible on your asthma alone."

Steve sighed. This had been fifth attempt to try and get into the army, lying once again on the paperwork on where he'd been born so as to deter the army officials in knowing he'd already been rejected many times.

"Is there anything you can do?" Steve asked pleadingly.

"I'm doing it," said the doctor, picking up the rejection stamp. "I'm saving your life."

And without another word, he stamped 4F into the little square box on the lower right-hand corner of Steve's recruitment form.

With a sad nod to the doctor, Steve silently stepped out of line and headed back to the curtained-off areas so as to redress.

He pulled on his buttoned-down white shirt and trousers and shrugged into his jacket and contemplated his problem with getting enlisted. Why couldn't the army see that he needed to fight? He know that there were plenty of men just beyond the curtain that would give anything to take his place right now and stay at home instead of risking their lives overseas, but Steve wanted the exact opposite. He had no right to be doing any less than them, and although the only fighting experience he had was taking a few short boxing lessons with Bucky at a gym a couple blocks away from his apartment building, he felt that he could make a better contribution to the war effort than simply getting a job at a local factory until the unforeseeable end of the war. He wouldn't strive to do any less than them.

With a sigh, Steve checked his watch as he headed back to the main entrance. His eyes widened when he saw the time. He'd find another recruiting office in this city soon enough and apply again another day. Right now, thanks to the number of men applying today and the interruption thanks to the little girl, he was now running late to meet Bucky for a movie. His friend had been rather adamant on seeing him today, saying he'd something important to tell him about.

He wasted no time setting off down the street as soon as he left the recruiting office. If he ran to catch the bus a few streets away, he might make it to the film on time and only get a mock punch to the arm from his childhood friend from being a little late.

As he rounded the corner however, a sudden childish shriek down a nearby alley caught his attention, and he stopped in his tracks. He knew that type of shout anywhere. That was the sound of someone getting jumped, mugged, and possibly roughed up. He would know. He himself got beaten up by mere strangers at least three times a week. He couldn't just walk away now with a good conscience even if he was running late to meet Bucky. Bucky would understand, he was generally the one to rescue him whenever assholes decided to wail on him, but this time it was Steve's turn to rescue someone. He might be small and skinny, but even he could get a good whack on a guy if caught by surprise.

Very quietly, Steve stole down the alley, wanting to assess the situation fully before doing anything rash. He didn't know what was going on exactly, and if it turned out that the attacker was a rather large fellow, he'd prefer to have the jump on him.

* * *

Jamie tried to hold back a rather loud yelp of pain as Nick Ryerson slammed his fist into her stomach and she landed hard on the paving of the alleyway. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes from the pain, but she bit hard on her tongue in order to remind herself not to let them fall. Nick, Becky, and the rest of the bullies were already laughing hard enough at her expense. She didn't want to add to the humiliation by being called a crybaby.

"Had enough?" sneered Nick as he grabbed her by the collar of her dress and forced her back up. "Or do you want more, War Girl?"

Jamie fought to keep her voice at a level tone, not wanting to sound more hurt than she actually was. "Leave me alone," she said, trying her best to sound threatening.

At her words, Becky Sanders lunged forward, harshly shoved Jamie back to the ground, and proceeded to kick her firmly in the gut. Jamie couldn't hold back a pained groan this time, and the sound just made Becky smirk.

"'Leave me alone!' she says!" Becky mocked loudly so Nick and the others could hear her. "You should be thanking us, Freak! How else are you going to prepare for the war if you don't let us train you up every day?"

Jamie had no retort to this, and just stayed on the ground this time. She cursed herself for not paying attention when forced to leave the recruiting office. Had she not have been so mad, she would have known better than to walk down the street without looking over her shoulder every couple minutes to make sure she wasn't being followed. Thanks to her carelessness, Nick, Becky, and the rest of their stupid gang had easily cornered and herded her into a deserted alleyway where they could taunt and hit her.

Slowly, Jamie forced her weary body to stand, and she glared at her attackers. They were truly a weird bullying pair, Nick and Becky. Becky was only a little older than her, twelve, and for some reason, from the moment Jamie arrived at the orphanage and before she even knew about her desire to join the army, Becky decided she didn't like her, and had taken to spilling her steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup upon Jamie that first night at dinner, feigning it to be a mere 'accident' by tripping over her own feet. Once she learned that Jamie wanted to join the army though, Becky had been relentless in taunting the girl at every opportunity, and had even on a few occasions thrown in a couple slaps to Jamie's cheeks.

Nick was something else. At fourteen, he generally didn't care too much tormenting the younger kids at the orphanage, and instead turned his attentions to the boys his own age that couldn't throw punches to save their lives, especially against someone as buff as he was. As soon as he had heard about Jamie's crazy antics, however, he'd left the other boys alone and instead devoted all his attentions into joining Becky in ruffing up Jamie twenty-four seven. He was also was the ringleader of a large gang in the orphanage, and whenever he and Becky found Jamie, the others were guaranteed to be along shortly to throw in their own punches on the little girl.

Jamie didn't want to say that she hated her daily bullies. Hate was a powerful word, and she didn't want to use it freely, but she most definitely loathed the pain that they inflicted upon her, both physically and emotionally.

"I don't care what any of you say!" Jamie spat, surprising herself by how strong and angry she sounded instead of physically exhausted and scared. "I will make it to Germany… I will help my older brother… Just you wait!"

"Your brother?!" Nick mocked. Before Jamie could scramble away, Nick seized both of her arms, and held them forcefully behind her back, holding her firm so Becky and the others could take turns hitting her without moving. "He's probably dead already… Just as you soon will be!"

"You're positively insane! Keep up the crazy talk, and they'll be carting you off to the electric chair! That's what they do to all the crazy kids!"

Jamie shut her eyes as Becky walked forward with an evil glint her eyes, preparing herself for the onslaught of pain about to occur, when a sudden, unexpected shout made her snap her eyes back open, and for Nick, Beck, and all the kids to suddenly freeze up.

"Hey!" shouted a voice that sounded like it belonged to an adult man. "Let go of her!"

The prospect of being caught red-handed by an adult in the act of beating a little girl caused Nick to drop Jamie, and he and Becky immediately backed away. Jamie took their momentary distraction as an opportunity to lunge behind a set of metal trashcans a couple feet away. Regardless of whatever happened next, she wanted to stay out of the way and out of sight.

"What are you all doing?!" she heard the man say again. She didn't recognize the voice, and she hadn't caught a glimpse of him before hiding herself away. For all she knew, her rescuer was none other than a good Samaritan that had overheard either her yelps of pain or the bullies taunts and evil laughter from the sidewalk and had come to investigate. Whatever the reason was that he was here, she was grateful, but she didn't trust herself enough to look beyond the metallic cylinders to see what was going on.

Steve Rogers was actually stunned by the situation. He personally didn't know Jamie, but he recognized her as the little girl that only fifteen minutes prior had been in the recruiting office, demanding to be enlisted. He couldn't just ignore this. As soon as the little girl hid herself behind the trash containers, he put on his most threatening scowl he could. He'd never liked bullies, and that girl definitely looked as though this was not the first time that these kids had taken the liberty to drag her back here and hit her repeatedly. He may be a toothpick with little to no fighting skills whatsoever other than a few boxing classes, but these were just a bunch of stupid kids, and he was an adult. He could get them to stop just by being here.

Sure enough, upon seeing Steve standing there, most of the boys that generally followed Nick without fail began sweating. Nick himself was looking very uncomfortable, and Becky was completely still.

"Get out of here!" Steve ordered, jerking his head back to the entrance of the alley. None of them moved. Steve's eyes narrowed. "Leave!" he barked. _"Now!"_

The boys scrambled past him, not wanting to be threatened with the prospect of being turned in to either the Harkin's or the police. As Nick and Becky went tumbling out after them, Steve's hand shot out, preventing them from leaving.

"If I catch any of you tormenting this girl again, I will personally march you all to the police so they can track down your families," he warned. "And that is a promise!"

Nick and Becky wordlessly nodded, too scared of the prospect of being forced to a police station to retort that none of them actually had any families, and Steve released his arm, and they too sprinted away.

Steve watched them leave for a moment, wanting to ensure that they were truly gone before trying to talk to the bullied girl, who was still hiding behind the trashcans. As soon as he was positive that they had indeed ran away, he turned his attention to the trashcans.

"You all right?" he asked kindly.

Jamie didn't dare creep out from behind the trashcans or respond to the kind question. She was still afraid. This man had just saved her. He had saved her from a beating from her daily bullies. But why? What did he want from her?

Steve paused, realizing that Jamie didn't intend to answer him. Cautiously, he took a couple steps forward toward the trashcans, and kneeled down in front of them.

"It's all right," he said softly. "They're all gone now, and I'm not gonna hurt you."

There was another long stretch of silence, and Steve was beginning to think that she still wasn't going to answer him, but then a quiet voice spoke up.

"You promise?" she asked.

Steve chuckled lightly. "Swear by it," he told her.

That was enough. Very slowly, Jamie crawled out from behind the trashcans, and surveyed Steve and her surroundings for a long moment before deeming it safe enough to get back up on her feet.

"You okay?" Steve asked her, seeing her wince as she twisted her body left and right in order to shake off the pain.

"Just sore," she told him. "Probably be sporting some more bruises tomorrow, though."

After a few minutes of trying to shake off the pain, she finally took the liberty of looking at him properly.

"Thank you," she said, "for rescuing me."

"You're welcome," said Steve. "I've never liked bullies. I'm just glad you're okay, though I must say, for someone wanting to join the army, I'd expect someone who could very least defend themselves from kids like that."

"Oh, I take it you were one of the guys back in the recruiting office, then?" Jamie asked. Steve nodded. "I don't know anything at all about fighting. I just want to join the army so I can help my older brother. He got drafted and is stationed somewhere near Italy, I think."

"Ah, I see," said Steve, now understanding her plight.

"Those kids you defended me from? They think that's the stupidest thing they've ever heard. They actually consider their daily beatings as a way to 'train me up' for the war."

"You should tell your parents," Steve advised. "They could put a stop to it."

To his surprise, Jamie just shook her head. "They're both dead." She told him. "They died in a car crash last year. My brother's over eighteen, but because he got drafted, I've been forced to stay at the orphanage just down the street, and the owners? The Harkins? They're pretty oblivious to all the bullying going on right under their noses."

Her words took Steve aback for a moment. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Let me walk you back, then," he offered. He'd probably miss the first couple of scenes of the movie, and he could only pray Bucky wouldn't be too pissed off at him. "That way those kids can't jump you unless they want to get in trouble from those Harkins."

"'Kay. Thank you, sir," said Jamie with a bright smile.

"It's Steve," he told her as he walked beside her to the entrance to the alleyway. "Steve Grant Rogers. Steven, if you're being formal."

"And I'm Jamie," she said, indicating herself. "Jamie Elizabeth Harper."

And with that, the unlikely duo set off together down the street.

"So," said Steve as they started down the pavement. "Why were those kids picking on you anyway? Other than wanting to join the army, I mean."

Jamie shrugged. "They think it's fun, for one. Picking on the new girl, and all… but they also think my wanting to join the army is downright stupid and hilarious. As soon as it got spread around the orphanage that a police officer had to drive me back there almost a month ago because I refused to leave the recruiting office, they took to stalking and harassing me."

Steve couldn't help but stare. "You're that adamant on getting into the army?"

"My big brother Trent is all I have, now that our parents are gone!" Jamie insisted. "You probably even read about the car crash. It was front-page news in the local paper the next day! Trent was the one who helped me after that! He's my brother, but he took care of me! I love him, and he loves me! If he's in trouble over there, I have to be there for him!"

Steve really didn't know what to say to that, so Jamie went on.

"But the stupid army doesn't see it that way!" she grumbled. "They keep saying I'm too young! It's so stupid! I may be only eight years younger than the required recruitment age, but I know I can do more for my brother than just collecting scrap metal with other kids at the orphanage!"

"You're ten?" said Steve finally, very much surprised. He assumed she was slightly younger. Jamie nodded irritably. "Look, no offense and no disrespect intended to you or your older brother… but war isn't just a game. It's dangerous. It's not something a little girl like you should get involved in."

Within seconds, Jamie's annoyed expression turned downright icy.

"Is being a girl what's holding me back?" she demanded. "Is that why they won't let me fight?"

"Er–well, I suppose that's part of it," said Steve hesitantly. "But really, no one wants to see a kid like you die. You're just a little girl. You still have your whole life ahead of you."

Jamie huffed. She was now mad. "You're just like them!" she snipped. "My age! My age! Even if I was thirty you'd still think of something about my age to criticize, wouldn't you?! It's my own choice whether or not I choose to enlist, but I guess someone like you, a guy who'll be going to Europe in a few days, can't understand that, because the draft demands that you have to enlist!"

"I'm not going to Europe," Steve said quickly. "I'm not going to war."

At this, Jamie finally stopped her angry ranting, and stared at him curiously.

"What? But, you said back there that you saw me back there in the recruiting office. I… I thought…"

Steve shook his head at her and pulled his recruiting form out of his pocket in order to prove it to her. "Didn't make the cut. Too many health issues."

She took the slip of paper, and examined the 4F stamped in the lower corner. When she gave it back to him, he couldn't help but notice her eyes roll.

"You must be pleased," she muttered as they turned a corner.

Steve shook his head again at her statement. "On the contrary, Jamie, I couldn't be more disappointed."

Jamie stared at him. "You actually want to go war?" she asked. Steve nodded.

"I believe that I don't have any right to do any less than the men overseas. Just between you and me, today was actually my fifth attempt to join. I've had to lie about where I'm from on the paperwork so as to not get caught. It's technically illegal to falsify that information."

"Well, you're quite a hypocrite then!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Beg your pardon?"

"You have absolutely no right to tell me that I shouldn't try to enlist in the army when people tell you the exact same thing! You have no right!"

Steve stared at her for a long moment. When he finally opened his mouth to deny that he was doing any such thing, he immediately closed it. She was technically right.

"You're very smart for your age," he finally said.

"That's what Trent always says…" Jamie trailed off, her eyes suddenly looking very sad.

"Trent—that's your brother?" Steve guessed. Jamie nodded. "You're worried about him?"

"'Course I am!" she exclaimed. "If I wasn't, do you think I'd try so hard to join the army? I'll do anything for him! Absolutely anything!"

Steve smiled. She was certainly a bright, special little girl.

They turned the corner, and the iron-wrought gates in front of the large, gray building of New York City's Public Orphanage loomed into view. Steve walked her right up to the front gate.

"Thank you for walking me back," said Jamie appreciatively.

"No trouble at all," Steve said kindly.

As Jamie unlocked the gate so she could go inside, Steve suddenly clapped his hand on her shoulder.

"Now, I'm not gonna tell you to keep trying to enlist in the army, because no sensible person in the world is gonna give a little kid that advice," he said to her, "but I will tell you this: Don't ever think for a second that those kids who were bothering you earlier are right, and don't think for a second that not hitting back makes you the better person. It'll be self-defense, and if you stand up and push back, you will show them that you are a fighter, and fighters are what's needed right now overseas."

Jamie beamed at him. "I'll remember that," she said proudly. "Thank you again for everything. Maybe I'll see you around some time! Goodbye!"

And with that, she went through the gate, ran down the pavement and up the short flight of concrete steps to the front door, and hurried inside, pausing only momentarily to give him a short wave goodbye.

Steve waved back until she was safely inside, and then marched his way down the street. With his luck, maybe Bucky was running late for the movie, too.

As he headed for the corner to catch the next bus, he considered the little he'd just rescued. Jamie Elizabeth Harper… He had to admit, he liked that kid. She was obviously very quiet, but underneath that shy exterior, she was hiding a ton of spunkiness.


	2. Being Selected

**This chapter was finished yesterday, but I wanted to wait at least twenty-four hours before posting it out of hope that I would get reviews on chapter one. Seeing that only my loyal reader ZabuzasGirl was kind enough to review the first chapter, I decided to just go ahead and post this chapter right now.**

 **Chapter three will take some time. It's nowhere near finished yet.**

 **Oh, and since I forgot to post it in the AU note last chapter, let me just post the disclaimer notice now, as I won't bother to do so again for the rest of the story:**

 **I do not own Captain America: The First Avenger. Liberty Belle is a fanfiction that I'm writing for fun, not profit.**

 **Please, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Being Selected**

Jamie paid the vendor in front of her the correct amount of change, and as she walked back toward the other kids from the orphanage still under the close supervision of both Mr. and Mrs. Harkins, she popped a particularly large chunk of cotton candy in her mouth, enjoying the sugary, fluffy texture on her tongue before it promptly vanished into nothingness. It was delicious. She loved cotton candy. She only wished the local candy store down the street from the orphanage sold it. She'd buy some everyday if they did.

It was just past twilight, and The World Expo of Tomorrow was lit up with varied colors of spectral lights from the carnival rides and games, and from the great number of spotlights situated to draw attention to the vast amounts of modern wonders on display for the citizens of New York City. Wonders such as trains that could travel through the air, ships that would one day travel to the moon and stars, suits that could make people fly… Such things were all but unknown to people living in the nineteen forties, and they had come to be amazed, and for those who had yet to arrive, a great deal of multi-colored fireworks were dancing high above in the sky, enticing everyone in the city to come and visit the Expo.

It was nice of the Harkins to take all the kids to the Expo on a field trip. Despite being orphans, they felt like it was unfair to the children to be deprived of normal childhood events with families, the Expo being a prime example of such events. It cost them quite a bit of money to afford taking all orphans, often times they had to dip into their own personal savings instead of just relying on the money that the government sent to support all the kids, but they felt like it was worth it when they saw the kids smiling, laughing faces.

"Everyone here? Everyone got their snacks?" called out Mr. Harkins.

There was a great collection of "Yes, Mr. Harkins," from all the kids.

Julia smiled. "All right then, kids. Follow us, please. Our first stop is the presentation billionaire Howard Stark is presenting. Just straight ahead!"

Jamie gripped her cotton candy tightly in her hand, and followed the other kids moving along behind the Harkins. She knew all about multi-billionaire Howard Stark. Everyone knew about him. He designed all the weapon technology that the army was using right now during the war in Europe. Possibly even further east in Japan, too. He was supposed to be a mega-playboy, too, often seen with at least one girl on either arm whenever he left parties and government-sponsored social events.

Jamie grinned happily to herself as she munched on her sugary treat. The rumor circulating the Expo was that Stark's newest invention had something to do with flying. And Jamie loved anything flying related.

" _Come Josephine in my flying machine,"_ she sang to herself softly as she strolled along with the other orphans. _"And it's up she goes… Up she goes…"_

It was an old song, one that supposedly was released back in nineteen ten, but it was still pretty popular, and her mother used to sing it to her almost every night before she went to sleep. It always reminded her of her mother, and of her love of flying. She even had a small portable record player of her own back at the orphanage, and in addition to a record of the soundtrack from _The Wizard of Oz_ movie, she also had a vinyl recording of this song, and she often played it every night before she went to bed, pretending it was her mother singing to her and not a recording.

" _Balance yourself like a bird on a beam,"_ she sang on. _"In the air, she goes… There she goes…"_

"Shut it, War Girl!" snapped Nick, suddenly appearing at her side and shoving her side hard. "No one wants to hear your stupid voice right now!"

Jamie didn't say anything back. For once, she just wanted the bullies to ignore her so she could fully enjoy herself. Even if that meant not saying or singing anything, she'd do it. She didn't necessarily want to be all alone, but she'd prefer that to being a punching bag.

Thankfully, Nick didn't continue to taunt her, nor did the rest of his gang or Becky approach her, either. They, too, had better things on their mind tonight than focusing on tormenting Jamie.

Mr. and Mrs. Harkins led the way to the crowd gathered around a large, raised platform being used as a makeshift stage for the presentation, and ushered everyone to gather around.

"One at a time kids! No pushing!"

"Stay together, everyone! We don't want anyone getting lost!"

Jamie tried to maneuver her way to the front of the large gathering of orphans in order to get a better view, but her tiny body was shoved aside. Not by the bullies, but by all the other kids. She was one of the tiniest kids there, and she was easily knocked aside by the bigger kids trying to make their way to the front. It took all her willpower during the hustling and bustling not to drop her cotton candy. She'd paid good money for this snack. She didn't want to drop it on the disgusting ground.

The kids got there in the nick of time. The curtain on the stage was just being raised, and lights flashed on to reveal a small line of five young woman that all appeared to be in their early twenties, and each one of them was wearing short skirted versions of female tuxedos with red flowers in their boutonnieres, and jaunty top hats. Directly behind them was a bright red, shiny Chevy model, and in front of them was a microphone and its stand.

One of them stepped forward, took the mic from its stand, and began to speak to the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Howard Stark!"

Jamie adjusted her grip on her cotton candy to maneuver it to be directly between her thumb and index finger in order to try and awkwardly join in with the crowds' ecstatic, welcoming applause for the multi-billionaire as famed Howard Stark walked on stage. He was a young man in only in mid-to-late twenties, and he was incredibly handsome, what with his dark hair, dark eyes, and small mustache. Like the girls on stage, he too was dressed smartly in a flashy black tuxedo, and had a black top hat perched on top of his head. He grinned to the applauding crowd as he took his place on stage, and then smiled coyly to the girl with the microphone. She and the other chorus girls swooned when they saw his grin, and the girl with the mic stepped forward, allowing the playboy billionaire to sweep her off her feet, and into a quick, but very sensuous kiss. The crowd roared. They loved it.

When they finally broke apart, the girl swapped the microphone for Stark's top hat before walking off with the other girls toward the car in the back of the stage. Stark couldn't help but chuckle somewhat before finally turning and addressing the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Stark began. "What if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all?"

There was a great amount of murmuring from the crowd at these words. Cars wouldn't have to be on the ground anymore? It was impossible. How could it be?

"He's gotta be joking!" Jamie overheard Becky whisper furiously to Nick as the women up on the stage began tinkering somewhat with the wheels on the car. "That's impossible! Cars drive on the street!"

"Nothing's impossible for Howard Stark!" Nick muttered, not bothering to look away from the stage, or rather, the girls' long, lean legs as he spoke. "He's done the impossible before!"

Jamie ignored them. She was awestruck at what Howard Stark was suggesting. Flying cars? She kept her eyes glued on the stage, not even allowing herself to blink in case she missed something.

The women finished whatever they were doing with the wheels, and quickly pulled them away from the red Chevy to reveal a series of metal electronics in their place. The crowd was silent, anxiously waiting to hear what they did.

"Yes," Stark went on. "With Stark Grativic Reversion Technology, you'll be able to do just that."

There was a panel with many complicated looking buttons on levers beside him on the stage, and he paused to turn away from the audience, and fiddle around with some of the buttons for a moment. The car, very slowly, began to rise in the air, and hovered there for everyone to see.

"Wow…" Jamie whispered, stars in her eyes and an excited smile on her face. She couldn't believe it. The car was really flying. Flying. She was going to live to see cars fly through the air rather than drive down the street. Maybe if she was lucky, she'd actually ride in one of those cars. It was just so amazing, so incredible; she couldn't get a single coherent thought running properly through her head.

Then, just as suddenly as the car rose up in the air, it suddenly dropped, rather unexpectedly, back down to the earth, and Stark, the women on stage, and everyone up close to the stage in the audience were showered in a great number of smoke and sparks. Everyone in the crowd instinctively backed away.

"Well, I did say a few years, didn't I?" Stark joked, and the crowd laughed and politely applauded.

As the crowd began to disperse, the Harkins gathered all the orphans around once again. As Jamie did her best to follow along, she suddenly spied a small, beige building in the exact center of the fair grounds. She knew what that building was. She went into one of its twins as often as she could every week in her efforts to join the army. An Army Recruiting Office.

"All right, children, next on the list is some of the rides," Julia called out for all the kids to hear.

"I'll be leading the way to the Ferris Wheel," shouted Mr. Harkins, "but if there's anyone who wants to go on the Merry-Go-Round instead, follow my wife instead. We'll all meet up at the Ring Toss in half-an-hour."

Immediately, kids began to separate, one group following Mr. Harkins to the Ferris Wheel, the other group following Julia to the Merry-Go-Round. Jamie was in neither group. She stayed right where she was, and stared eagerly up at the main entrance to the recruiting office. Maybe the reason why the doctors at the office she generally went to were so stingy about giving her an exam was because they were getting tired of her going to that particular office over and over again. Maybe if she tried getting admitted for an exam here, she'd have more luck.

She marched right up to the entrance, her entire being bursting with hope and each step filled with determination. It was a fair, after all. Why not try her luck?

A few people eyed her curiously as she entered. It was one thing to see adults enter recruiting offices, but children? That was unheard of. Jamie ignored the perplexed looks she was receiving, and approached the woman at the front desk.

"Um… excuse me? Ma'am?"

The young receptionist put down the newspaper she'd been reading, and glanced down at Jamie, seemingly confused to her here.

"Oh, can I help you?" the woman asked. "Did you get separated from your parents somehow out there—" she gestured vaguely towards the fronts doors. "—in the fair?"

"N-no, I'm not lost," Jamie answered. "But you can help me."

"How?" asked the receptionist, growing more confused by the minute.

"I'd like a copy of the recruitment paperwork," Jamie said brightly. "I want to enlist in the army, please."

For a long moment, the woman just stared at her. Then she began laughing.

"That's a good one, kid, but only adults are allowed to fight in the war."

"Ma'am, I'm not joking," Jamie said earnestly. "I want to enlist. Can you please give me the paperwork so I can see one of the doctors?"

"Of course not!" the receptionist exclaimed. "I could lose my job if I were to let a little girl like you try to enlist in the army!"

"Ma'am, please!" Jamie begged. "Isn't there anything you can do? I don't have to necessarily fight! I'd settle for just doing the laundry or something in one of the army camps! Please!"

"I'm afraid not," said the receptionist, now beginning to sound stern. "I know who you are, now. You're that little girl that's been going to that recruiting office on 11th every week for the past month, aren't you? Decided to try somewhere else for a change, did you?"

"All I want is a chance!" Jamie exclaimed. "One chance! My big brother is somewhere in Italy right now! I just want to help him! Please! Give me a chance to help my only brother!"

"Little girl, I'm afraid that's completely out of the question," said the receptionist firmly. "Now, why don't you go find your parents, or else I may have to find a nice policeman escort you to them, hm?"

Jamie glared. She was starting to lose her patience. Didn't this woman understand? Didn't anyone in this city understand? She had to get to Europe. She had to help Trent. Trent was the most important person in her life. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't do anything to help him while he was overseas, laying down his life for her. She opened her mouth to starting shouting angry things, but there was suddenly a firm hand clasped tightly on her shoulder.

"It's all right, Marian," said a rough, accented, but otherwise unknown voice from somewhere behind Jamie. "I shall take care of this child."

Jamie turned. Behind her stood a rather old man. His white hair was beginning to bald, and he wore a thin pair of round, gold-rimmed glasses. His face was covered in rapidly growing stubble, and he was dressed up in a very smart brown suit. He apparently was someone very important, because the receptionist immediately brightened upon seeing him.

"Oh, thank you very much, Doctor Erskine."

"No trouble at all, Marian," replied the man known as Erskine. Then he glanced down at Jamie. "Come along, child. I'll lead you back to your parents."

Forcing back an angry scowl, Jamie nodded, and allowed the man to lead her out of the building. Once again, she would never get her chance to go overseas. She would be taken back to the Harkins who would no doubt lightly punish her with a set of chores to complete tomorrow before being able to go out to play, and would be taunted by Nick, Becky, and all their friends upon seeing her being walked back by an army official. Could she never escape this endless cycle of repeated rejections whenever she entered recruiting offices? Would the only way for her to get to Europe be by stowing away on a ship with other recruits that had been cleared to fight in the war?

"Where are your parents?" asked Erskine, bringing Jamie back to the present.

"I don't have parents," Jamie told him. "I'm here with the other orphans in the city orphanage. The owners, the Harkins, brought us. Mr. Harkins took half the group to the Ferris Wheel, and Mrs. Harkins took everyone else to the Merry-Go-Round."

"You're an orphan?" asked Erskine, leading Jamie in the direction of the Merry-Go-Round. "And you want to go overseas? Kill some Nazi's?"

"What?" asked Jamie. She was surprised that she wasn't being ridiculed over trying to enlist. Everyone else she'd ever met had always had stern words to say to her once they found out what she'd consistently been trying to do.

"I am Doctor Abraham Erskine," said the man, pausing to smile to Jamie as they weaved in between bodies as they strolled toward the Merry-Go-Round. "I represent the Strategic Scientific Reserve."

"I'm Jamie. Jamie Elizabeth Harper. And I'm not an orphan! I still have a big brother! Sergeant Trenton Harper. He's serving right now somewhere in Europe. I'm just at the orphanage because the government says I have to be until he comes home, or… or he dies…"

"I see…"

There was a brief, tense silence at this. Jamie quickly latched onto the first topic that popped into her head.

"You don't sound American," she said.

Erskine briefly chuckled at this. "I'm German. This troubles you?"

"No, sir," said Jamie, afraid she'd offended him. "I was simply curious."

"I've heard of you, Miss Harper," Doctor Erskine continued. "You're the little girl who has been going to that recruiting office down on 11th Street repeatedly and asking to be enlisted, are you not?"

"I'm not gonna get arrested, am I?" said Jamie, suddenly nervous. "You're not taking me to the police, are you? I didn't think I'd broken some sort of law, I just thought—"

"No, it's not the fact that you broke a law that I'm currently taking you back to the owners of the orphanage," Erskine quickly interjected. "It's the fact that you keep trying to enlist. But, you didn't answer my first question. Do you want to kill Nazi's?"

Jamie blinked. She didn't know what to say to that. Stalling for time to think up a response, she thought up her own question.

"Does the answer really matter?"

"Yes."

Jamie chewed on her lower lip. Again, she really didn't know what to say. When she decided she wanted to join the war, she knew that killing people would probably be inevitable, but that didn't mean she wanted to do it. She wasn't even sure she could do it if the time came, but she still wanted to help somehow. Help Trent. Help the men overseas. Help America in general. She answered as honestly as she could.

"No, sir," she said. "I… I really don't want to kill anyone. Nazi or otherwise. I just… I just want to help Trent. He's all I have left in this world. I want to help him. Him and all of America. I want to help by doing more than just collecting scrap metal in a wagon…"

The doctor quietly contemplated her answer as they approached the Merry-Go-Round. Jamie could Mrs. Harkins at the front of the line, keeping a watchful eye on all the kids as they rode the backs of the wooden horses.

"Well," Erskine finally said after a long moment. "There are already so many big men fighting this war. Maybe what we need now is a little girl…"

Jamie blinked. She had no idea what he meant. "Sir?"

Erskine came to a halt no more than a few yards away from Julia Harkins, and Jamie stopped, too. Julia didn't notice them. The other kids were disembarking the carousel, and she was counting heads, trying to make sure no one had run off.

"If you were offered a chance," said Erskine slowly, carefully studying her facial expressions. _"Only_ a chance, mind you, not a guarantee… would you accept it?"

"Of course!" said Jamie at once. "One chance is all I ask!"

"Interesting…" he murmured. He seemed to be contemplating something to himself, nodding to himself, even. When he finally glanced back down at the little girl at his side, he smiled.

"This conversation never happened," he finally told her.

Again, Jamie blinked. "Huh? But we are talking! Right now! You just met me in—"

"No," he interrupted. "You never went into that Army Recruiting Office tonight. You never met me. Tomorrow, you will stay inside the orphanage with the other children. Do not leave. Do you understand me?"

Jamie tilted her head to the side. "No. What do you mean?"

Again, Erskine smiled. "Just do as I say, and you might get that one chance…"

And with that, he nodded for her to head back towards the other kids, and strolled back in the direction of the Recruiting Office.

Jamie was left alone, puzzling over his words. Stay at the orphanage tomorrow? Don't leave? If she did that, she'd possibly get a chance to help Trent? She didn't really understand.

With one last curious glance at the strange old man from the army shot over her shoulder, she shrugged to herself, and marched back in the direction of the other kids as they followed behind Julia to the Ring Toss. She melted easily back in line, no one the wiser that she'd even left the group.

* * *

"Hey, War Girl!" shouted Becky mockingly as she and Nick strolled past her seat in the cafeteria. "Not planning on eating breakfast are you? You ate so much cotton candy last night at the Expo! Hate to see you lose your dream 'cause you got so fat!"

Jamie's cheeks reddened in embarrassment, but refused to look up from her page in her copy of _The Wizard of Oz._ She was doing her best to ignore them.

"Hey, pay attention, recruit!" snapped Nick, getting right up behind her and sneering into her ear. "In the army, you have to give people your full and undivided attention."

Jamie forced herself not to stiffen up or turn around. She just kept trying to read the same sentence on the page she'd been staring at for the past twenty seconds, trying to allow the meaning of the words to sink in.

Although she still didn't understand what Doctor Erskine meant last night, she was obeying his instructions and staying inside the orphanage today, even though she was sorely tempted to simply disregard what he'd said and go back to the recruiting office down the road, if for no other reason than to just escape her bullies. Still, what he'd told her last night had, at the very least, hinted towards her having a chance to join the army. She could gather up her courage and deal with Nick and Becky for one day.

The book was suddenly snatched from her hands, and held up high out of her reach by a smirking Nick.

"Hey! That used to belong to my Mom!" Jamie snapped, jumping to her feet. "Give it back! Right now!"

"No, I don't think I will…" Nick sneered. He flipped open the book to a random page, sneered at the words, and then proceeded to rip it from the book. "Oh, look, my mistake…"

Jamie stared, horrified, at what he'd done. Then she screamed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Harkins!" she wailed. She didn't care if her tattling would result in her getting bruised from head to toe later. She didn't care that Nick and Becky were glaring at her icily for her screaming to get adults. She wanted them to get in trouble this time. Her copy of _The Wizard of Oz_ had been her mother's copy back when she was her age, and now it was ruined. They should be punished.

Julia came running over, surprise on her face when she saw what was going on. "Jamie, what is it? Why are you—?"

"Look!" Jamie screamed, fresh tears running down her face as she snatched her mother's ruined copy of _The Wizard of Oz_ from Nick's hand, as well as the ripped out page, and thrust both items up in Julia's face. "Look what they did! They ruined it! My Mom's copy! This was my Mom's copy of this book! And they ruined it! They ruined it!"

Julia stared at the ripped out page from the book, and then at Jamie, who was freely crying out her misery. They she turned furiously towards Nick and Becky.

"You two better expect to be doing more chores around here until further notice," she told them sternly. "Last night at the Expo? That'll be the last group outing you two will be taking until further notice. Now, apologize to Jamie."

Nick and Becky both glowered. They were boiling mad. They wanted nothing more than to clobber Jamie in a whirlwind of kicks and punches, but they were currently in front of Mrs. Harkins. They couldn't do anything to her right now. With angry scowls, they turned back to Jamie.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Jamie accepted their grumbled apologies with a curt nod. She knew they didn't mean it, and she'd be paying for this later on this afternoon.

"What about Mom's book?" she asked, tears still running down her face. "Can it be fixed?"

"You could tape it back together for now," said Mrs. Harkins. "But I'll buy you another copy the next time I go out to run errands. I know it's not the same, but it's better than having a ripped up copy."

"'Kay," said Jamie, wiping away her tears on her sleeve. It wouldn't be her Mom's copy, but it would be replaced. That was better than nothing.

Just then, the doorbell to the main entrance of the orphanage resounded.

Instantly, the entire cafeteria went very quiet. There were guests. Guests. Every time the doorbell rang, it meant one of two things. There were government officials coming to check up on the welfare of the children, or there was possible parents looking to adopt children. The one thing that every child at the orphanage wanted more than anything.

Instantly, there was a great scraping of chairs on the floor as everyone hurried to the front doors. Government officials or possible parents. Either way, everyone was required to go to the main entrance and greet the visitors. Including Jamie. Even though she wasn't up for adoption like the other kids here, she was supposed to be present for when government officials showed up for surprise inspections.

"Look alive, kids!" called out Mr. Harkins as everyone gathered to the main lobby. "We want to make a good impression."

Jamie hurried along behind everyone else, hastily fixing her messy pigtails. She wasn't the only one trying to hurriedly primp up her appearance. Everywhere around her, girls of all ages were running their fingers through their hair, and boys were wiping their dirty hands on the back of their pants. If possible adopting parents were here, everyone wanted to look the nicest so they could be the child that would be adopted. To have a real family. Most children had been in the orphanage since they were newborns, and never knew what that meant. Others, like Jamie, had had parents that had unfortunately passed away, and although no one could replace their real parents, they wanted a new family, or at the very least to leave the orphanage.

As soon as everyone had gathered in the main lobby, Mr. and Mrs. Harkins quickly scanned their eyes over everyone, making sure that everyone was properly groomed and had not a hair out of place. They were satisfied, and they both smiled.

"All right, everyone," said Mrs. Harkins cheerfully. "Big smiles, now!"

And with that, the Harkins put on welcoming smiles of their own, and opened the door. Their cheerful smiles immediately turned to looks of complete bewilderment when they saw who was waiting on the front step.

On the front steps of the building was a military official whose army uniform depicted him to be of a very high rank, a young woman in her early twenties with big, dark brown eyes, bouncy, curled dark brown hair, and bright, ruby red lips who was also of military ranking but of a seemingly lower ranking than the man, and — to Jamie's complete surprise — Doctor Abraham Erskine. Behind them, there were a vast number of army privates, as well as a sheer number of trucks and cars, more than enough to cover the amount of people on the front steps at least twice over.

The Harkins were completely taken aback by the guests in front of them, and weren't even able to say anything in greeting, but loud whispering resounded from the children. What was going on? Were the Harkins doing something illegal? Could the mean, smelly cook that worked in the kitchens actually be a Nazi spy? Theories were bouncing back and forth faster than wildfire among the kids.

Jamie was stunned. She remembered that Doctor Erskine had mentioned something last night about him being in some of secret research group in the army, but this was over her head. What was going on? He'd told her last night she hadn't broken any laws by trying to get recruited into the army, but now she wasn't so sure. This whole array of army officials couldn't be here just for her… could they?

"Sir, ma'am," said the high-ranking man. "Good morning to you both."

"G-good morning!" chirped out a nervous Julia. "It's… you're a Colonel, right?"

The high-ranking man nodded. "I'm Colonel Chester Phillips, and these are my associates. Agent Peggy Carter," he paused and nodded to the woman beside him, who smiled pleasantly and nodded in greeting, "And Doctor Abraham Erskine." He nodded then to the Erskine, who also nodded. "We represent the Strategic Scientific Reserve."

"I'm Evan Harkins," said Mr. Harkins, still somewhat bewildered by the appearance of the Colonel and the small army platoon with him. "This is my wife, Julia. We run this place, but may I ask what you're doing here?"

"We're here to see and select any of your available children that are between the ages of ten to fifteen."

"See and select?" said Julia, her eyes widening. "Just what are you talking about?"

"We have authorization to take a select number of your kids until further notice."

"What?!" Mr. Harkins thundered, and many kids instinctively backed away. Mr. Harkins hardly ever yelled. "What authorization?! For what reason?! You have no right to come here and demand to take away any of these kids!"

"They are orphans!" Julia added, her voice just as icy. "They are just children! We are sponsored by the United States government to take care of them! The army has nothing to do with this institution! Leave our property at once!"

"Sir, ma'am," Agent Carter spoke up, her voice laced with traces of a British accent. "We understand that this request must come as a sudden shock to you both, but I'm afraid we are pressed for time. We have proper authorization and documentation from the government to take these children."

"I demand to see this so-called proper documentation," snarled Mr. Harkins. "Until I do, none of you are taking one step inside this facility and will so much as look at any of these kids!"

The Colonel reached inside an inner pocket of his uniform, and took out a sheet of paper.

"Signed by Senator Brandt himself," he said as he passed it to Mr. Harkins. "We've the right to take these kids. With your compliance, or by force, though if you two choose for us take them away by force, we have the right to have you both arrested for trying to stop us."

"What do you want these kids for?!" Julia demanded as Mr. Harkins' eyes scanned the words on the document. "They are just kids! What use does the army have for them?!"

"That's classified," answered the Colonel gruffly, his eyes firmly planted on Mr. Harkins, and Mr. Harkins alone.

Having finished reading the order, Mr. Harkins handed the form back to the Colonel and sighed, sounding very exasperated.

"Their order checks out," he muttered. Julia gaped at him. "We have no choice…"

"I'm calling our lawyer!" Julia shrieked. "We have rights! These children have rights!"

She all but ran from the main lobby to find the nearest telephone.

Mr. Harkins sighed, but stepped aside, allowing Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter, and Doctor Erskine to enter.

"Line up all the kids between ages ten to fifteen," the Colonel demanded.

Mr. Harkins didn't have to. Upon hearing the Colonel's demand, the every kid in that age range nervously stumbled out of the collected gathering of kids scattered throughout the room, and formed a long, single file line shoulder-to-shoulder across the entire expanse of the room.

Jamie stood among them. Now she understood why Erskine had told her what he'd had the night before about making sure she stayed here at the orphanage today. It was so she would be here right now. For some reason, whatever they wanted these kids for, he wanted her to be included in this gathering.

"I know you said that whatever you want with these kids is apparently secret," Harkins said as the three military officials began walking up and down the line and staring at the children, "But you really can't expect me to believe that you honestly need every single child between the age of ten to fifteen here in this building… That's crazy! That's at least a third of the entire population here in the orphanage!"

"We're not taking all of them," said Erskine, speaking up for the very first time. "We only require ten, nine of which will be returned to your care in a week and a day exactly."

"You're taking ten but will return nine?" Harkins repeated, shock plainly written on his face. "Why? What'll you do to the last one?"

"Again, that's classified," the Colonel repeated. He wasn't even looking at Harkins as he spoke. His eyes were sizing up a fifteen-year-old burly boy that Jamie had never spoken to before. After a moment's deliberation, he nodded to himself and then glanced over his shoulder at one of the army privates holding a cameo-colored duffel bag. "This one goes. Take him upstairs and get his stuff packed."

The army private nodded, and motioned for the boy to follow him upstairs to where all the bedrooms were.

Agent Carter, meanwhile, was looking over a thirteen-year-old girl at the end of the line. "Colonel Phillips," she called out. "What about this one?"

The Colonel nodded in approval. "Her too," he agreed, and another private with a duffel took that girl upstairs.

One by one, five boys and four girls were plucked out of line by either the Colonel or Agent Carter, and were then handed over to army privates with duffel bags who then proceeded to lead them upstairs to pack up their necessities before leading them outside to where the trucks awaited. Nick was among the boys, and Jamie couldn't help but scowl slightly when she caught sight of the smug look on his face when he was chosen.

Through all this, Doctor Erskine was surprisingly silent. He just watched as the Colonel and Agent Carter selected different kids. Only once did his eyes come to rest on Jamie, and Jamie saw him smile at her.

"We've got enough boys, we just need one more girl," the Colonel muttered as the fifth boy was dragged out of line and taken upstairs.

"Which one should it be, Colonel?" Agent Carter asked.

The Colonel eyes scanned the line at the remaining girls, thinking hard. His eyes came to rest on Becky.

"She'll do," he answered, and Becky's face broke into a wide grin. "Private! Take this one upstairs and—"

"No," Doctor Erskine cut in, and both Agent Carter and the Colonel turned in surprise. "Her."

He pointed sharply at Jamie.

"Her?" the Colonel repeated in disbelief. "Doctor Erskine, with all due respect… we need kids that will actually be able to endure training, and she looks like—"

"I have allowed you and Agent Carter to select all the other candidates," Erskine once again interjected. "All I ask is that you allow me to select at least one candidate of my own."

The Colonel pressed his lips together rather tightly, but then nodded in consent.

"Fine. Private, take that girl instead."

Becky shot Jamie a cold glare, one that went completely unnoticed. Jamie was in awestruck delight. This was it. She was going with the army. Doctor Erskine really was giving her a chance. The army private held out his hand, and Jamie reached out toward him—

"Hold it right there!"

Jamie froze, as did the army private. All heads immediately turned back to Julia Harkins, who was standing in the doorway leading towards her and Mr. Harkins main office, both of her hands firmly planted on her hips, and an icy scowl plastered on her face.

"I just got off the phone with our lawyer," she began, her tone deadly. "He's coming right now. He's going to validate whether or not your so-called authorization is legal, but regardless, that girl stays right here!"

"Ma'am, you can call your lawyers. They'll just confirm that we have the proper authorization. And this girl was chosen. She is going."

"No. My wife is correct. She has to stay," said Mr. Harkins. "Any of the other children are normal, but that is Jamie Harper. She is not a proper orphan. She is currently a ward of the state because her older brother is her only living family, and he was drafted and sent to Europe. She is merely an extended guest being forced to board here. You can't take her."

"If she is a ward of the state because her brother is in the army, then that places her in the care of the United States government," Doctor Erskine calmly deflected. "The government may have placed her here originally, but with these new orders, it now has the right to extract her from your care, thereby placing her in the care of the United States Army instead. She is coming."

"You just can't do this!" Julia shrieked. "I don't know what you want with these kids, but this is wrong! They have rights, too!"

The Colonel ignored her protests as he once again signaled for the army private to take Jamie upstairs, and help her pack her things. He led her up the stairs, and only allowed Jamie to give him brief instructions to her bedroom before leading her down the upstairs hall to her room.

"Pack whatever you need," the private told her as he tossed her the empty duffel. "Only one or two fun and games things. No room for that stuff at the military base."

"Y-yes, sir!" Jamie stuttered nervously as she looked around her bedroom for the past month.

She emptied her closet, stuffing as many of her clothes as she could into the duffel, as well as a spare pair of shoes and a set of hair ties. She grabbed her hairbrush from her desk, and her stationary set. That drew a brow from the private, and he opened his mouth to protest.

"My stationary set doesn't count as fun and games," she quickly said before he could demand her to leave it back on the desk. "My big brother is overseas right now! I'm allowed to mail him letters! I'm taking it with me, as well as his letters and the pictures I have of him and our parents!"

The private wasn't pleased, but he begrudgingly nodded. "Fine," he muttered darkly as she threw her stationary set and the framed photographs she had of Trent alone and the picture of the two of them with their parents before they died into the duffel with the rest of her clothes. "Then what are your fun and games things, then?"

"My stuffed panda, Pannie," she answered, holding her bear up so he could see. "My portable record player and two recordings, and my favorite book."

"No record player and no book."

"The record player helps me sleep at night!" She demanded. "And the book is an easy read! It takes up next to no space! Please!"

"Fine, fine!" he grunted. "Quit your bitchin'…"

"That's a swear word!" she said, her eyes wide.

"Better get used to it. You'll be hearing them a lot on the base. Now grab the last of your shit and let's go."

She scowled at his language, but did as he said. She still had the ruined copy of _The Wizard of Oz_ in hand, and she threw it and its ripped out page on top of the other things in the duffel bag. There would surely be someone at the base who could loan her some tape to repair it. She collected her record player off her desk, and removed the vinyl recording of _Come Josephine in my Flying Machine_ from its track. She put it back inside its protective sleeve, and then put it and her recording of _The Wizard of Oz_ inside her duffel bag, too.

"That everything, then?" the private asked as she zipped up the duffel, and picked up Pannie.

"Yes, that's everything," she said, hugging her panda as tight as she could.

"Good. Follow me, then."

He led her back down the stairs. The Harkins' lawyer was in the main lobby, validating the order the Colonel had shown them.

"It's legit," Jamie overheard him say to the orphanage owners as the private led her through the crowd of kids that were watching this entire spectacle and towards the front doors. "I don't know what the army wants with your kids, but it's got the governments' stamp of approval. You've got no choice…"

Mr. Harkins swore under his breath, and Julia loudly screamed profanities about how unjust this was as the private dragged her outside. Jamie wasn't looking at them, though. Her eyes had caught sight of Becky's. Becky was glaring venomously at the younger girl. She was beyond furious that Jamie was leaving and not her. Jamie suppressed the urge to shudder. She had to be brave now. Nick was still going, and he was sure to make her life a living hell whenever they got to where the army was taking them all. He might not have Becky or the rest of his gang anymore, but he was plenty strong and scary on his own, too. He could still easily beat her up. He was more than four years older and had over fifty pounds on her.

"Will my brother's letters be forwarded to wherever we're going?" she asked as the private steered her down the paved pathway leading towards the trucks. "I want to be able to keep writing to him, and to get letters back."

"I'll mention it to the Colonel," the private muttered. "He'll find your file and get the letters forwarded to the base."

"Thank you."

He steered her to towards the last truck, as all the others were filled with the other kids, and the last truck was the only one left with an available seat. Thankfully, Nick wasn't aboard this one. Only some other kids that had never bothered to talk to her before either because they were just plain indifferent to Jamie, or because they didn't want to get on the bad side of Becky, Nick, or Nick's gang by befriending her. The private helped her climb aboard.

"Get buckled in," he ordered her. "We've a long and bumpy road ahead of us today."

"Sir?" called out a boy of eleven as Jamie dumped her bag beside her seat and buckled in, keeping her panda bear on her lap. "Where are we going exactly?"

"And why do you want us?" shouted out a thirteen-year-old girl.

"You'll find out why you were chosen tomorrow," said the Colonel. He, Agent Carter, and Doctor Erskine had at last exited the orphanage, and were addressing the kids. "As for where we're going… ever been to New Jersey?"

"New Jersey?" repeated the first boy, his eyes wide.

"That's right," repeated the Colonel. "Camp Lehigh, New Jersey. The military base."


	3. Camp Lehigh

**Okay, so I lied when I said it would take me a couple days to finish writing the second half of this chapter. Instead, it just took me approximately twelve hours. That's what happens when you have a fanfic you desperately want to keep writing on the brain, only one college class you have to attend for the day, and the rest of the day free to do whatever you want. I was bored, so I just kept writing, and whenever I figured I'd stop and take a break, a review would alert would pop up in my email and encourage me to keep on writing!**

 **You hear that, people? Reviews encourage me to write! They're appreciated! Always review so I can be encouraged to write! I'd especially like to thank the six people who took the time to review chapter two:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My Most Loyal Fan of This Series)**

 **\- ChefMae**

 **\- Lizzybug2000**

 **\- LITTLE RED FOXX**

 **\- Guest (Next time, please leave your name so I can properly acknowledge you in any future AU notes)**

 **\- kidamerica123**

 **Your reviews helped me to carve out this chapter so fast, so thank you so much!  
**

 **Disclaimer is viewable in the AU note of Chapter 2.**

 **Please, read and review! They make my day and encourage me to write!**

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Camp Lehigh**

Jamie stood at attention in the line with the nine other kids from the orphanage in front of their own private bunker. Like her, they were all puzzled at to why they were here, dressed up in miniature-sized versions of the standard army private's uniform and military hard hats in Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, but Jamie was also very excited. Only twenty-four hours ago, she'd been in the orphanage in New York City, wondering whether or not Doctor Erskine had simply been lying to her about receiving a chance to join the army, and now here she was, ready to learn the reason as to why she was here and to possibly begin training to be a soldier.

They'd all arrived at the base late last night, having been driven for almost all day yesterday. They'd all been unloaded from the trucks with their duffel bags, and steered almost immediately to their private bunker, separate from all the other bunkers as they were just children in a camp filled almost completely with recently drafted men between the ages of eighteen to somewhere in the mid-to-late thirties. They'd been told to unpack and get a decent night sleep, as they'd be briefed as to why they were here and told what to do early the next morning.

It'd been a rough night for Jamie. Although she was excited to be there, finally getting a slim chance to join the army and be with Trent overseas, she was forced to be here with Nick, one of her bullies. At least at the orphanage, she'd had her own bedroom, the one place she could go where Nick, Becky, and the rest of their gang couldn't reach her. Here, though, all the beds were laid out side-by-side in the bunkers. Upon changing out of her clothes and into her pajamas, Jamie had gone over to where she'd left Pannie and her duffel bag by one of the beds, ready to take out her record player and play _Come Josephine in my Flying Machine_ once before she went to sleep, only to be grabbed seconds later by Nick and shoved to the floor.

"Excited to be here, War Girl?" he taunted as Jamie whimpered loudly from the force of the shove. "You honestly think you'll last one day here?"

Jamie just threw him a dirty look as she tried to stand back up. "We don't know why we're here," she retorted. "I have just as much as a chance as you do at whatever's happening at the end of this week…"

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," he jeered as she scuffled miserably back to her bed. "Just remember, I was one of the first kids the Colonel picked! You, however, were chosen out of pity by that old man! I think it's clear based on that who has a better shot at being the kid that's not sent back to that shit-hole orphanage!"

Jamie pressed her lips together when she heard him curse, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, she climbed into her bed, hugged Pannie to her chest, and shut her eyes in order not to see Nick's sneering face or the stares of either amusement or pity from the other kids. She did not dare play her record. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself.

Without the song, Jamie had had a lot of trouble falling asleep, and right now, she was yawning every few minutes, trying to stay awake.

"Go ahead and fall asleep, War Girl," Nick hissed lightly. "Dream away your dreams of war!"

The other kids laughed as Jamie's cheeks reddened. Why couldn't Nick just leave her alone?

Instead of focusing on him or her own tiredness, Jamie glanced around at everything going on in the camp, trying to take in her surroundings. There were so many adults yelling at one another, either as a way to get someone's attention or to tell someone off. A rapid amount of gunfire used in trainings could be heard at least once every few minutes, and all the recruits were watching the kids with curious gazes. This was a safe place, Jamie knew. A training facility for men who'd been drafted to go and fight in the war. Trent had probably spent some time here, too. But still, Jamie was somewhat frightened by the place.

"Children, attention!" shouted a familiar voice.

Jamie stopped looking about, and stood up straight like the other children around her. Agent Carter was strolling towards them.

"Good morning," she greeted politely.

"Good morning," the kids greeted back.

"I'm sure you all have questions as to why you're here. If you'll all follow me, you'll get your answers. Single file, everyone!"

Wordlessly, everyone lined up behind her, and followed her away from the barracks. Jamie lingered behind at the end of the line, having been pushed aside by Nick and the other kids in order to claim spots at the very front.

They followed Agent Carter a short while, no one daring to speak at all as to where they were going, and no one had to. They only crossed the camp to where there was a line of young men lingering about, obviously awaiting orders of how to begin their own training.

Most of the men in line were all tall and burly, looking as though they'd been preparing for the war ever since America got involved after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but near the end of the line there was a small, skinny man who seemed very out of place whereas compared to the others. Most of the other men in line were sizing him up, and making crude jokes as to how long he'd last in training. Jamie stared at the tiny man. Other than being reminded of how similarly he was being treated by his fellow recruits to how she was being treated by her fellow orphans, there was something very familiar about him. Something she couldn't quite place. Had she met him before?

"Wait here," Agent Carter ordered the children when they were no less than a few yards away.

There was a collective sound of "Yes, ma'am," from all the kids. She nodded in approval of the maturity they all displayed, and then approached the line of men.

"Recruits, attention!" she called out sharply.

Every man in line immediately snapped to attention at her words and stood as straight and as stiff as wooden boards.

"Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter," Agent Carter addressed the men. "I supervise all operations for this division."

"What's with the accent, Queen Victoria?" called out one of the men in line. "I thought I was signing up for the U.S. army."

Agent Carter's expression turned stern. "What's your name, soldier?" she said at once.

"Gilmore Hodge, your majesty," he drawled.

"Step forward, Hodge."

He did as she said, having the guts to look somewhat amused by the situation. Jamie watched this exchange with baited breath, as did most of the other orphans. They may be only children, but even they could tell that he was about to be taught a lesson because of his cheek. The only one who wasn't looking worried was Nick. He seemed to be on the same wavelength as Gilmore Hodge, and was doing his best not snicker at what was happening.

"Put your right foot forward," Agent Carter ordered.

Again, Hodge as he was told, but this time his smirk only grew.

"We gonna wrestle?" he asked, sizing up her thin, feminine body from head to toe. "'Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."

Agent Carter's reply was swift, but very effective punch to Hodge's jaw. Hodge fell backward on the ground with a loud thump and groan. The other men in the line couldn't help but stare, but had the sense not to comment. Among the children, though… that was another story.

One eleven-year-old girl screamed upon seeing him being punched. A twelve-year-old boy gasped loudly. A couple fourteen-year-olds covered their eyes. Jamie blinked but otherwise stayed silent, willing her jaw not to drop or suddenly gasp. Nick Ryerson, though, was actually smirking. He was enjoying this.

The commotion from the orphaned kids drew the attention of the young men in line, and they at last noticed them standing somewhat off to the side. Surprise looks flickered across each face. None of them had expected to see kids on this base, let alone a bunch of orphans wearing mini-sized versions of the standard private uniform. They all kept silent though, and contemplated the reasons as to why they were here silently in their minds. None of them wanted to end up like Hodge and be punched in the face for speaking out of turn.

A jeep suddenly rolled up behind Agent Carter, and its driver and passenger was Colonel Phillips and Doctor Erskine.

"Agent Carter," called out the Colonel as he climbed out of the jeep.

Agent Carter turned around, and upon seeing the Colonel, she stood up straighter than before and promptly saluted him.

"Colonel Phillips," she politely greeted as he and Doctor Erskine approached her and the rest of the men in the line.

"I can see that you are breaking in the candidates," said the Colonel. "That's good…"

His eyes fell upon Gilmore Hodge, who was still lying down in the dirt from the force of Agent Carter's swing. He frowned at the sight.

"Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention 'till somebody comes and tells you what to do," he ordered.

Hodge scrambled to his feet and stood at attention as he'd been ordered.

"Yes, sir!" he promptly replied.

He nodded in approval, and then looked off to the side at where the orphans were standing. Upon finally getting attention from the Colonel, all of the kids immediately stood up straight and at attention.

"All of you here, now!" he commanded.

The orphans didn't hesitate to comply. They walked single file up to the Colonel. Colonel Phillips nodded to them, and then turned to face Agent Carter again.

"Has either side been briefed, yet?"

"Not yet, sir," she said. "I was waiting for you to make the debriefing."

Phillips nodded, and then looked at the men in the line in front of him.

"Before we begin, I should tell you all that this division will require each of you to be in the company of one of each of these kids. They will be considered to be your buddy partner, and you're expected to help them with their own training for the following week in addition to your own training."

The men weren't allowed to exchange puzzled glances about this since the Colonel was currently addressing them, but the orphans did. Soft, puzzled whispers broke out amongst the kids. They were each going to be partnered up with one of these adult recruits? Why?

The Colonel's head snapped around when he caught wind of the whispers, and the kids immediately quieted down.

"Since you're all kids and some of you are too young to understand the meaning of 'don't speak unless spoken to,' I'll ignore your whispering this one time," he said at once. "But from this moment on, you're considered to be soldiers of the United States Army, and talking like that again without permission gives me the right to punish you as any other soldier. Is that clear?"

"Clear, sir!" came the collected, nervous reply from the children.

"Good," he replied. "Now, each of you kids pick one of them recruits. Like I said before, they'll be your buddy partner for the rest of this week."

Wordlessly, the kids filed out of line, and lined up next to whichever recruit they liked the best, or they thought looked as though they'd give them the biggest boost in training. Nick naturally floated over towards Gilmore Hodge, who looked more than happy to have attracted the attention of a fourteen-year-old boy who seemed to be just as much as a smartass as him, but as Jamie was at the very end of the line, she had the last pick, leaving her with the small thin man she'd caught a glimpse of and had thought looked vaguely familiar when they'd first approached the line of men with Agent Carter.

Upon seeing that the last little girl was forced to be stuck with him, the man glanced down to smile at her, but upon seeing the other's face, both Jamie and the short man stared at one another in unmistakable shock.

Steve Rogers couldn't believe his eyes. Jamie Harper, the little girl he'd saved from bullies a few days ago was in front of him right now in a private uniform. He never actually thought he'd meet her again, but now that he thought of it, the boy that had grouped up with Hodge had looked familiar to him. Now he realized that that had been one of Jamie's bullies that had been tormenting her in that alleyway. What the hell were all these orphans doing on the military base, anyway? They were just kids! War is no place for children…

Jamie just stared. She hadn't expected to run into Steve again, especially not here at an army base. He'd told her that day when he saved her that he hadn't made the cut at the Army Recruiting Office. Had he lied to her? She was glad her rescuer was here, but she now had questions and desperately wanted answers. But they would have to wait. She couldn't ask right now when the Colonel specifically stated that they weren't allowed to speak out of turn.

Wordlessly, she took her place beside Steve. Steve smiled awkwardly to her. They'd discuss what the other was doing here later.

Upon seeing the kids grouped with their chosen adult recruits, the Colonel nodded in approval. He started walking up and down the line as he began to speak.

"General Patton has said, 'Wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by soldiers. We are going to win this war because we have the best… soldiers…"

He trailed off for a moment when his eyes fell upon the pairing of Steve and Jamie. Steve stayed silent and stood at attention, not wanting to be considered any less simply because of his size, and Jamie fought the urge to tremble under his gaze. Further down the line, Gilmore Hodge and Nick Ryerson held back their snickers upon seeing the worst recruits grouped together. Steve and Jamie did not meet their stares.

Phillips took a moment to glance over at Doctor Erskine. It was clear he was displeased to have Steve and Jamie here. Erskine held his gaze. He would not back down from his decision of giving the Unlikely Duo a chance. The Colonel frowned, but carried on his speech as he continued on down the line.

"And because they are going to get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world," he explained. "Our goal is to create the best army in history, and to create the best army in the future. However, every army starts with one soldier, and we need to have the best soldier in an army of the future, one that will be destined to surpass anything that we make here, today. At the end of this week, we will choose one man out of all you adult recruits, and one of you kids to be those first soldiers. They will both be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of hell."

Jamie didn't even bothered being alarmed at the use of the swear word. She was trying to suppress the urge to gulp in worry. This was a bit more than what she thought was going to happen when she told Doctor Erskine she'd take any chance available to get into the army. This super-soldier thing sounded really scary, but she held her tongue. There was no way she was going to ask to leave and go back to the orphanage. Not if this was the only chance she'd ever get at being reunited with Trent overseas. If she'd have to prove her worth to the Colonel and Agent Carter that she was the one that should be chosen to become the child soldier of the future, she'd do it. It was her one chance to fight in this war.

And besides, she was partnered up with Steve. Things wouldn't be too bad so long as he was here. He was kind enough to rescue her from Nick and Becky, and he was very nice when they were chatting when he walked her back to the orphanage.

She could do this. She'd do whatever they ordered her to do. She'd do the very best she could.

"Now, we begin training immediately! Move out people!"

Everyone followed the three officials led both the adult and children recruits across the camp. As they walked, many of the men were quietly introducing themselves to their child partner for the next week, and the kids told the men their own names. In the case of Steve and Jamie, though, they were simply staring at one another.

"I have to say, I never expected to see you again, kid," Steve muttered quietly to Jamie after several paces of awkward silence as they walked slightly behind everyone else.

"That makes two of us," said Jamie sheepishly. "How exactly did you even get cleared to get here, Steve? Did you lie to me the other day when you said you didn't make the cut on the health exam?"

"No, I never lied to you, Jamie," said Steve at once. "I really didn't make the cut that day."

"Then how come you're here?"

Steve nodded in the direction of Doctor Erskine.

"He gave me a chance. _Only_ a chance and only in this top secret research division."

Jamie's eyes went wide. "You met Doctor Erskine, too?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" he said, puzzled. "You personally met him, too?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding as she glanced in the direction of the doctor. "It was actually just a couple hours after I met you. The Harkins took all us kids to the World Expo. I wandered away from the group and went into a nearby Army Recruiting Office. He saw me there. As he walked me back to where the Harkins were, he asked if I'd take a chance, and only a chance at getting into the army. I told him yes, naturally, and he said to keep our chance meeting a secret. I didn't understand why, but he, the Colonel, and Agent Carter showed up out of the blue on the front steps of the orphanage yesterday, with some sort of document saying that they had the right to take me, and a bunch of other kids until further notice."

"Then the rest of the kids here are also from the orphanage?"

"Yeah. They gave us some time to pack up some of our stuff, and then they loaded us into a bunch of army trucks, and they drove us here."

Steve chuckled. "The irony… I must have just missed you, then…"

"What?" asked Jamie.

"I met Doctor Erskine at the World Expo at that Army Recruiting Office, too. It must have been just before or just after you met him."

"Huh…" said Jamie. "Give or take a couple minutes and we would have bumped into each other again…"

"I know. Ironic, huh?"

Jamie lightly laughed, but had no chance to comment. They had just arrived at their first training exercise: a tall, rope climbing ladder-wall that they'd each have to climb over.

"All right, people," Colonel Phillips called out. "Let's see how you do with this exercise…"

He motioned for the drill sergeant standing beside the training course to step forward.

"All right, cadets," barked the drill sergeant to both the adult and children recruits. "Let's see how fast it takes all of you to get yourself, and your partner over this wall! Ain't no room for slowpokes out on the battlefield!"

He blew the whistle around his neck, and the first team ran up to the rope-climbing wall and began to climb, followed swiftly by the second team in line, and then the third, and then the rest followed. It didn't matter that many of the adult recruits had never done anything like this before and that they were assisting their child partners to climb up, too. They made the climbing exercise look easy.

Soon it was Steve and Jamie's turn. Steve went first, trying his best to show Jamie how it was done. It was hard work, though, trying to find his grip on the rope rungs on the climbing apparatus, and he wasn't able to move very fast up the ladder. Jamie was almost a mirror image to how much he was failing, the only difference being that Steve was climbing, albeit slowly, whereas she was constantly losing her grip and slipping off the ladder when she no more than a foot off the wall. Eventually, Steve climbed back down in reverse to help her out.

"Don't let go of one rung until both of your feet are securely inside rungs of their own," he advised her. "You'll keep slipping if you don't."

"'Kay," she muttered, her face hot with embarrassment.

She listened to his advice, and this time was able to climb up the training equipment; slowly, but she was still doing it, and Steve climbed up the rope ladder at the same pace as her in order to coach her through it. He didn't mind that it made him seem somewhat slow, too. He wanted to help her out.

Nick suddenly breezed past Jamie easily as she climbed, a wicked smirk on his face.

"Think fast, War Girl!" he quietly muttered, and before Jamie could so much as turn her head toward his direction, he climbed up past her, and purposefully stuck one of his feet into the rung where Jamie had been placing her hand, crushing her fingers with his boot.

Jamie yelped with pain, let go of the rope rung, and started to fall back down the ladder.

"Jamie!" Steve shouted. He reached out to hopefully grab her before she fell all the way back down. He succeeded, and managed to snatch onto her wrist. He wasn't expecting her to be so heavy, though, and he, too, tumbled backward, but both of his feet got tangled in the rope rungs, and he hung upside down on the ladder, blinking in surprise as to how he managed to be in this predicament, and still holding onto to Jamie's wrist to prevent her from landing on the hard ground.

"Rogers!" snapped the drill sergeant. "Let go of the girl and get off of there!"

Jamie's cheeks burned with embarrassment as Steve slowly released her so she could grab back onto the rope ladder, all the while Hodge and Nick snickered up as they climbed over the top of the ladder and began climbing down the other side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Colonel frown, tut to himself, and scribble something down on her and Steve's assessment sheets.

* * *

"That was hard," Jamie muttered as she slouched into the mess hall beside Steve, her entire body sore and achy. It had been a very, very long day of training. After the rope climbing exercise, they went through a basic training course in gun control. That had been moderately easy, as they'd only been learning how to properly aim and shoot the handguns and rifles. Then they'd been taught how to properly fight hand-to-hand.

That was where Steve and Jamie struggled the most.

"Why don't you go to the First-Aid tent?" Steve suggested as he watched her gingerly massage a nasty bruise on her cheek, courtesy of Nick. "Ask if they have some ice?"

"I'm fine," Jamie insisted as they filed into line behind the other adult recruits and orphans to get their dinner trays. "I'm used to this, after all…"

Steve frowned. "You shouldn't be used to it. Him whacking you around like that… It's not right."

"What am I supposed to do, Steve?" she asked as they received bowls of soup and started walking off toward an empty table in the back corner of the Mess Hall. "If I hit back, I give them what they want. They want me to get angry…"

"You also can't let them walk all over you like that, though," Steve argued. "If you let people walk all over you now, they'll walk all over you for the rest of your life."

Jamie scowled slightly at his words. "Says the guy who couldn't defend himself when that guy Hodge walloped him in training…" she retorted.

"Touché," Steve said with a slight smile, ruffling her hair. Jamie grinned to him as they sat down.

"Do you even know how to fight, Steve?" she asked as she spooned up a bit of soup. "I watched you when you were pit against Hodge. It looked like you knew what you were doing, but he was just too big and strong for you to get a decent punch in."

"I know the basics of boxing," Steve replied. "When America first joined the war, my friend Bucky and I decided to take a few lessons so we'd know what to do should we get drafted."

"And where's Bucky now? Is he here on the base, too?"

"No, he's already on his way overseas. Believe it or not, I found out he got drafted just a little after I walked you back to the orphanage. He got shipped out as sergeant in the 107th Infantry yesterday."

"He's a sergeant in the 107th?" Jamie replied, her eyes wide. Steve nodded. "What a coincidence! Trent's a sergeant in the 107th, too!"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh! Maybe they'll meet and become friends! Just like you and me!"

Steve laughed. "Yeah, that would be something…"

There was a brief silence between the two of them for a few minutes as they ate their soup. Then Jamie spoke up again.

"Do you think you could teach me how to box?"

Steve paused from lifting his spoon back to his mouth at her words.

"You want to learn how to box?"

"Yeah! Could you teach me?" she repeated. "I want to do better in training! You may not be an expert, but you could teach me how to throw punches! Couldn't you?"

Steve thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" he said with a smile. "I'm supposed to be helping you with training anyway, since you're my partner."

"All right!" Jamie cheered, pumping one of her fists in the air, and her pigtails bobbing about in her excitement. "When we can start? Can we start right after dinner? Is it hard to learn? How good are you? Can I call you my mentor, then? If you teach me, do you think I'll be able to defend myself against Nick and the other bullies? And what about—"

"Whoa! Slow down, Jamie," Steve interrupted. "I get that you're excited, but you're going to fast for me to understand."

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly.

"It's okay," said Steve. "And in answer to the order of your questions, I'll teach you, but not tonight. It's too late. We can start tomorrow before dinner. And yes, boxing can be hard to learn, and it'll make you very tired very easily. I wouldn't consider myself an expert; I only took a few lessons. And mentor? I guess you could call me that, although I've never been anyone's mentor before. And I certainly hope I can teach enough to defend yourself against that boy. I wouldn't consider myself to be a good mentor if I didn't…"

"Awesome!" Jamie cheered again, a bright smile on her face. "You are now Steve Rogers, my friend and boxing mentor!"

Steve just smiled. Jamie really was a cute kid; so sweet and innocent. He was glad she was his assigned partner.

"Oh, and there was one more thing I wanted to ask you about before I go to bed," she said suddenly.

"About training?"

"Uh-uh," she said, shaking her head. "I just wanted to know if you knew where I could find some tape."

"Tape?" Steve repeated, very much puzzled. "What do you want tape for?"

"To fix my book," she replied. "Right before Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter, and Doctor Erskine came and took all us kids from the orphanage, Nick went and ripped out a page from my Mom's copy of _The Wizard of Oz,_ my favorite book. I need to fix it. So do you know where I could find some, or do you have any?"

Steve frowned. He disliked that boy more and more with everything Jamie told him about what he generally did to her. "I'm sorry, Jamie. I don't think you'll find any tape around here. That'll probably have to wait until this week is over."

"Oh…" she said sadly. How could she not be sad? Her book had belonged to her mother when she was just a little girl. It should never have been ruined like this.

"So you like the _Wizard of Oz,_ then?" he asked, trying to get her mind off of the ripped out page.

"Yeah, I love the _Wizard of Oz!"_ she said brightly. "I love anything magical, and _The Wizard of Oz_ is absolutely magical! A story of a little girl who travels to a magical land because of a cyclone? And walks along a road made of yellow brick to a city made entirely out of emeralds while wearing enchanted silver shoes and befriends a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion? I love it!"

"Ruby slippers," Steve interjected.

"Huh?"

"Dorothy wears ruby slippers."

"Wrong! That's just in the movie! In the book it's silver shoes!"

"Really?" said Steve. "So I take it you're not a fan of the movie, then?"

"No, I like the movie well enough… It's just not as good as the book. Although I do love the flying monkeys in the movie! They're so cool!"

"You like the monkeys?"

"They can fly! I want to fly someday! Maybe if we're chosen to become the super soldiers, we'll be able to fly! That'd be amazing!"

Steve chuckled. "Well, I don't know about that, and besides, I'd prefer to keep both my feet firmly on the ground."

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself… Oh! I also have a record of the movie's songs! I brought it with me! Along with my record player and my record of _Come Josephine in my Flying Machine!_ That's the song my Mom used to sing to me every night before I went to sleep! It's my favorite song! Do you wanna hear it?"

He chuckled again. "Sure. Although I think the only reason you like it so much is because it's about a plane flying around."

Jamie stuck out her tongue at him, but nonetheless stood up, threw away her and Steve's empty bowls into the nearby trash can, and dragged her behind him as she led him out the door and toward her and the other kids' bunker to show him her record player.

* * *

Days ticked by, and life for Jamie at Camp Lehigh developed into a routine. Every day, she would get up, get dressed and do her best to ignore Nick, rush out of the bunker to meet up with Steve before the training sessions began, endure the rigorous training sessions while trying to avoid Nick and Hodge, though unsuccessfully. As they were partnered together during this training program, they would generally work together to give Steve and Jamie a hard time.

One example would be on day three, when the adults and kids were presented with a crawling exercise. They were to crawl through a mud enclosure topped with barbed wire with rifles to the opposite end. The spaces were small, and they were to be timed to see how fast they could do this exercise. All of the other adults and many of the other kids were able to do this easily, but Steve and Jamie struggled to crawl through the space with the guns and not scratch themselves on the barbed wire. Nick and Hodge, way ahead of them, both kicked down the posts holding up the barbed wire in front of them, trapping the Unlikely Duo in the enclosure with barbed wire poking into their skin. As Jamie lightly cried from the wire cutting into her skin and Steve struggled to carefully untangle himself and Jamie from the mess, Nick and Hodge crawled through the remainder of the training course and laughed.

After training with the other recruits, Jamie would shower, and then meet up with Steve at the hand-to-hand training station, where he would privately instruct her in basic boxing lessons with simple punching bags.

"All right," he told her during their first lesson. "Show me what you can do. Try punching the bag."

Jamie did as he said, or rather, tried to do as he said. She curled her fingers into a fist, but when she recoiled her arm, he immediately stopped her.

"Stop! Don't do that!"

"Do what?"

"Tuck your thumb into your hand. Keep it out."

"Why?"

"If you're holding your thumb like that when your fist hits the target, there's a good chance you might break it!"

"Oh."

Jamie did as he had instructed, and kept her thumb out of her hand when coiling it back up into a fist. When she hit the punching bag this time, Steve nodded in approval.

"Not bad for a first try. You have the power. You just need to know the proper techniques."

Through his coaching, Jamie was learning the basics of boxing. Proper jabs, how to cross, making hooks, and even uppercuts. Defensive techniques were trickier for her to learn. Slip and turns were easy enough to do, since she was very flexible, but it was hard for her to block punches. She just wasn't fast and her reflexes just weren't up to par. Still, she did okay for a beginner with only a few days worth of lessons, and Steve made sure she knew it.

"This is really hard," Jamie mumbled during the lessons on day four. "I thought I'd be better than this by now…"

"No, you're doing very well," Steve assured her. "Much better than I did in my first lessons."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're obviously struggling with defense. I did too, but I also couldn't do much in terms of attack, either. You're doing well there."

"You really think so? Thanks!"

After her private lessons were done, she and Steve would head off to the Mess Hall for dinner together, and then go their separate ways to their own bunkers to go to bed. Jamie would generally change into her pajamas at this time, and check with the private in charge of keeping an eye on their bunker if any mail came in for her from Trent overseas. Every night, the private would sadly shake his to her, and Jamie would frown and head to her desk beside her bed. She'd turn on her record player, but keep the volume low so as not to attract the attention of Nick or any of the other kids, and scribble out a quick note to Trent, telling him of her adventures here at the camp which she would then give to the private to mail off, and then drift off to sleep.

She was actually growing a bit worried. It'd been almost two weeks since she last received a letter from her brother. Generally they came almost every few days. Even if he had nothing important to tell her, the letters would come with just him saying that he missed her just so she'd know that he was still okay. It wasn't like him not to write.

There was no time to focus on that right now, though. It was now day five, and currently, she and Steve were running an endurance run with the rest of the adults and children. Everyone else was doing moderately well, jogging in time with the drill sergeant who was leading them across the dirt track, but Steve and Jamie lagged behind, running at full strength in order not to be left behind.

"Pick up the pace, ladies!" barked the drill sergeant. "Let's go, let's go! Double time!"

"I can't help but feel like the sergeant up there is purposefully having everyone run at a speed that he knows that the two of us can't quite keep up with," Jamie muttered to Steve quietly as they ran.

Steve chuckled between his rapid pants for breath. "You know that's not true. So long as we do the best we can with each exercise, no one can criticize us for not doing as well as the others, James."

Jamie tripped up slightly over her feet upon hearing what he called her. Steve saw her face blanch completely and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just… you called me James. The only person who calls me James is Trent, and…"

"It's a special nickname for you from your brother, right?" Steve guessed. Jamie nodded. "I understand. But what should I call you then?"

"Just Jamie!"

Steve chuckled upon seeing her face scrunch up into an annoyed expression.

"Just Jamie, huh? I like that… Two J's… J.J.!"

"J.J.?"

"Yeah. Why? You don't like that, either?"

"No, it's fine. I like it."

"Good to hear, J.J." said Steve, taking a moment to pat her on the shoulder as they ran. Jamie smiled in return.

They and the other recruits were approaching a rather tall flagpole off to the side of the course, and across from it on the opposite side of the course, Agent Carter was sitting in the passenger seat of a jeep beside a private who was the driver, writing down notes on everyone's assessment sheets on their speeds.

"Come on! Faster! Faster! Move! Move!" shouted the drill sergeant as they all ran up to both the flagpole and jeep. "Squad halt!"

Everyone came to an appreciated stop, upon the drill sergeant's command, and there was a great intake of breath from adults and children alike as almost everyone doubled over with their hands on their knees as they struggled to regain their breath. With the squad having at last come to a stop, Steve and Jamie finally caught up with them, and they too stopped beside the rest of the group and panted heavily.

The drill sergeant ignored the exhaustion from all the weary adult men and young children, and instead pointed sharply up at flag, fluttering high up above them all up at the very top of the flagpole.

"That flag," he called out for everyone to hear, "means we're only at the halfway point. First one to bring it to me gets themselves and their partner a ride back with Agent Carter. Move! Move!"

All at once, there was a great rush as both adults and children scrambled to get to the base of the flagpole first. Some adults shoved their child counterparts aside as they did their best to climb up the pole by themselves, only to just lose their grip and slide right back down and land on their behinds. Others tried to lift their kids up as high as they could so as to give the kids an advanced boost for them to climb, but the kids also slipped.

"Come on! Get up there!" shouted the drill sergeant. "If that's all you got, this army's in trouble!"

Steve and Jamie did not even bother trying to approach the flagpole at this time. There was no point. For one, they were both so much smaller than everyone else, they'd never make it close to the pole, and on the other hand, it was clear that the key to getting the flag was not by brute aggression. Everyone else was trying that and continuously failing. No, they could both see that the trick to getting the flag was by doing something differently.

Soon it was Nick and Hodge's turn. Hodge scrambled to get fourteen-year-old Nick onto his shoulders in order to help Nick to get an advanced boost up the pole.

"Go on, Hodge! Go on! Get up there, Ryerson! Come on! Get up there!"

Nick climbed. He climbed with all his strength. Hodge, the other adult men, and the orphaned kids all cheered him on. He was getting pretty high up. He might actually have a shot at capturing the flag.

Unfortunately, gravity was against Nick, and slid right back down the pole. He was immediately shoved aside as other adults tried to get their own kids up on the pole again. It was chaotic, what with all the adults and kids forming a frenzied mob around the pole.

"Nobody's got that flag in seventeen years!" shouted the drill sergeant, and there was a faint trace of disappointment in his voice. He apparently had been hoping that one team might have at last broken the record. "Now, fall back into line! Come on, fall in!"

There was a great amount of grumbling from everyone as they'd failed to receive a pass on finishing the run, and all slumped back over to the drill sergeant still waiting on the course.

"Let's go!" called the drill sergeant. "Get back into formation."

They all did as he instructed, and got back into formation. The drill sergeant nodded in approval, and was about to give the orders to resume the run, when Steve and Jamie walked up to the flagpole.

The two surveyed the pole. Looking at it from top to bottom. There had to be another way to get the flag.

The drill sergeant scowled. What were those two weaklings doing?

"Rogers! Harper!" he loudly barked. "I said fall in!"

Jamie ignored him. She was looking at the base of the flagpole. She'd just discovered the true way to get the flag. She lightly tugged on Steve's hand to get his attention.

Steve glanced down at her, and she pointed at the base of the pole. Steve saw what she saw, and gently ruffled her hair in response. As she giggled, Steve crouched down, and very easily took out the removable pin at the base of the pole, which was keeping the pole standing upward.

The pole immediately toppled over, landing upon the ground with a metallic clang at directly at the drill sergeant's feet.

There was a stunned silence as Jamie leisurely strolled forward, and removed the flag from its hooks at the opposite end of the pole. That was intentional. She wanted to see if Nick or Hodge or anyone else would try and fight her for it when she and Steve clearly won the flag fair and square, but no one did. They were too surprised. The two weaklings had managed to get the flag. Not by brute force like everyone else had tried to do in order retrieve it, but by taking the time and thinking through the problem. The drill sergeant had never said they couldn't take out the pin in order to get the flag. No one could accuse them of cheating to get it. They had just looked at the problem from a different angle.

She managed to unhook the flag, and waited for Steve to join her before walking up the drill sergeant, and presenting him the Camp Lehigh flag.

"Thank you, sir," she piped, a bright smile on her face. The sergeant just stared at her for a moment before accepting it, and then she and Steve approached the jeep.

"Need a boost, J.J.?" Steve asked her.

"Yes, thank you, Steve!" she said cheerfully.

Steve all but lifted her off the ground, and into the backseat of the jeep before climbing in after her. As they settled into their seats, they smiled and nodded pleasantly to Agent Carter. She smiled back. She was clearly impressed by the way they'd captured the flag.

As the jeep drove off back to the main camp, Jamie spared a glance over her shoulder at everyone else. The drill sergeant and most everyone else were still watching the retreating jeep with looks of shock. Hodge was staring after them with a sense of newfound respect, but Nick was glaring murderously after them.

Jamie shuddered, and turned back around to stare at the back of Agent Carter's head. She could tell that Nick was beyond fuming mad from being shown up by her.

* * *

"Faster, all of you! Come on!" snapped Agent Carter. "My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul. Move it!"

Jamie fought the urge to groan as she struggled to complete her set of push-ups. She was beyond tired. It had been an especially bad night in the bunker. Having been shown up by Jamie in getting the flag yesterday, Nick had cornered her in the bunker before lights out, and proceeded to whack her around. If someone were to remove her private uniforms' shirt, they'd discover she was literally a walking bruise. She was sore and achy, and just wanted today's group training to be over with so she could tell Steve that she wanted to skip their private training session today so she could go on ahead take a long, hot shower to relieve her bruised body.

While all the other adults and kids, especially Hodge and Nick, could finish each set of exercises with relative ease, she and Steve struggled to so much as keep pace. They may be smart individuals, but they just weren't cut out for physical exertion. While everyone else was just finishing up on their third push-up, Steve and Jamie were just finishing their first.

Still, they would not relent. Despite the muscles in their arms screaming for reprieve that made it so much of an effort for them to so much as move, they kept on going. As they continued doing their sets of push-ups, and they both failed to notice Colonel Phillips and Doctor Erskine were standing a few yards away from the group beside one of the army jeeps. Discussing the two of them.

"You're not really thinking about picking Rogers and the Harper girl, are you?" asked the Colonel skeptically.

Doctor Erskine nodded. "I wasn't just thinking about it," he replied. "They are both clear choices."

Colonel Phillips just scoffed. "When you brought a ninety pound asthmatic onto my army base, and insisted on carting along a little girl that just barely scraped past the required age range we gave those owners at that orphanage back in New York, I let it slide. I thought, 'What the hell.' Maybe they'd be useful to you, like gerbils. I never thought you'd pick not one, but both of them."

Their conversation was briefly interrupted when Agent Carter shouted "Up!" to all the recruits. All the adults and children got back to their feet, with Steve and Jamie lagging slightly behind due to how exhausted they were. "Jumping Jack's!" she ordered.

Everyone followed her orders, and proceeded to do jumping jacks. Steve and Jamie could do little more than lift their arms halfway up as they did the jumps.

"Stick needles into those kids' arms, they're gonna go right through them. Look at them," he added, noting the failing jumps that Steve and Jamie were currently presenting. "They're making me cry."

Doctor Erskine sighed. "I am looking for qualities beyond the physical," he explained.

Now Colonel Phillips was getting annoyed. He glared at Erskine. "Do you know how lone it took to set up this project?" he hissed. "All the groveling I had to do in front of Senator What's-His-Name's committees?"

"Brandt," said the Doctor. "Yes, I know. I am well aware of your efforts."

"Then throw me a bone," said the Colonel, and he nodded in the direction of Hodge and Nick.

Unlike Steve Rogers and Jamie Harper, who were both still only jumping halfway off the ground, Gilmore Hodge and Nick Ryerson were both performing their jumping jacks flawlessly, and neither of them appeared to be the slightest bit fatigued.

"Hodge and Ryerson passed every test we gave them, and they worked well as a team while on the courses," said the Colonel approvingly. "They're both big, they're both fast. They both obey orders. They're soldiers."

"They are both bullies," Doctor Erskine objected. "And they've only interacted with each other during the group tests. Have you not watched Steve and Jamie during their downtime this past week? I have. They eat meals together, chat together, and Steve even began giving Jamie boxing lessons so she can defend herself after group training sessions. They'd make a much better team."

Colonel Phillips just rolled his eyes. He turned, and reached into one of the boxes in the jeep behind him for a grenade. He discreetly dismantled it.

"You don't win wars with niceness, Doctor. You win wars with guts."

Then, he tossed the harmless grenade right into the fray of the training recruits.

"Grenade!" he shouted.

There was instant panic. Kids and adults alike scrambled to get behind the nearest available form of cover there was, or to just run as far away as they could out of range of the upcoming explosion.

In the mayhem, Hodge forgot all about Nick, and ran behind a truck for cover. Nick tried to follow him, but another kid bumped into him, and he tripped over his feet and tumbled to the ground. There would be no way he'd be able to get away from the explosion in time. The moment he realized that Nick wasn't right next to him, Hodge spared a peek over the hood of the truck. He, Colonel Phillips, and Agent Carter were shocked by what they were witnessing, but Doctor Erskine was smiling proudly at the sight.

Upon seeing the grenade fall into the middle of the tumble of bodies, Steve did not hesitate or think twice about what he was about to do. He simply ran right toward it, and launched his entire body on top of the explosive device. He was going to allow himself to be torn to pieces in order to protect everyone there.

"Get away!" he shouted out to everyone around him. "Get back!"

Jamie meanwhile, hadn't even bothered trying to run away. She'd seen Nick slip and fall, and had run right up to his side. It hadn't mattered to her that it was her bully, the boy that had tormented her every day since she first was sent to the orphanage. She simply bent down, scooped up one of his arms, and tried to support him away from the grenade. She wouldn't leave him, or any defenseless person behind, no matter how cruel they'd been to her.

"Come on!" she shouted. "Faster!"

Nick didn't move. He was too stunned. Jamie was about to start dragging him behind her to shelter, when she realized something, as did Steve. The grenade should have gone off by now.

"It was a dummy grenade," called out another recruit in realization, and upon hearing his words, Steve slowly sat back up on the ground, and Jamie realized her grip on Nick's shoulder.

Steve glanced over at Colonel Phillips. "Is this a test?" he asked.

Colonel Phillips sighed, but didn't answer him. Instead, he turned to face Doctor Erskine, who looked the tiniest bit smug.

"They're still—"

"What the fuck, War Girl?!"

All heads turned at once toward Nick and Jamie, who yelped in alarm as he suddenly shoved her harshly against one of the jeeps. Everyone was too surprised to do anything by this. It was one thing for a fourteen-year-old boy to tease a girl and mess with her during training, or to pummel her in a whirlwind punches and kicks when alone and no one could see. It was a whole other ball game to try and attack her in public and in front of adults, and no one had been expecting it. Least of all Jamie herself.

"W-what? What're you—?"

"Why the fuck did you do that?!" Nick demanded, his face sweltering red and scrunched up in a furiously icy glare. "Why did you help me?!"

"T-that's a swear word!" she stuttered. It was the first response that popped into her mind.

"Your goddamn fucking right I swore!" Nick shouted back. "Answer my fucking question! Why did you help me?!"

"Y-you fell!" she whimpered. She was very scared. She'd never seen Nick this angry before. "Y-you could've died! I-I-I couldn't just leave y-you there! I had to h-help!"

"Did I fucking ask for your help?!" he roared. "Did I?! Is this your idea of a fucking joke?! To try and seem noble?! To try and show me up so you'll get picked and be in the army?!"

By now, the adults were coming out of their shock somewhat. Most of the other recruits were shoving their child partners behind them to keep them out of the way, while Steve, Agent Carter, Colonel Phillips, and Doctor Erskine were cautiously approaching the furious teen and frightened girl. Even Hodge was coming to help. This was very bad.

"No!" Jamie cried out in alarm, her eyes wide with both shock and fear. "I-I-I just wanted to help you!"

"Lying bitch!" Nick roared, and before anyone could stop him, he punched Jamie right in the face.

All the adults rushed forward as he reeled his fist back to hit her again. They had to stop this before Jamie got seriously hurt. But what happened next made them all freeze once again in surprise.

Jamie screamed. Not in pain, but in pure determination and anger. She'd had enough of this. She was tired of being afraid. Tired of being Nick's punching bag. She couldn't let right turn into what had happened last night in the bunker. She would not be pushed around any more. Steve had told her to stand up for herself, and that was precisely what she was going to do.

Nick looked momentarily confused by her sudden angry roar, and that one moment was all she needed. She jammed her knee up between his legs. Hard. Nick shouted out in pain and released her in order to grasp hold of his tender groin, and she took that as an opportunity to reel back her own fist, and deliver a solid right-hook to his nose.

There was a loud cracking sound. Nick screamed in pain as blood burst forth from his nose, and he fell to the ground with both his hands clasped over his face. He started wailing from the pain.

Everyone stood there, shocked beyond measure. Jamie had just hit him. She hit him so hard she made blood come out of his nose. She probably broke it.

Jamie stood there, looming over him. Her fist was still stretched out slightly in front of her, and there were faint traces of blood on her knuckles. She was panting a bit, and glaring furiously down at Nick on the ground.

"You don't hit me," she whispered. It was so soft, it was barely audible. Her face scrunched up as angry tears poured down her face. Then she was screaming. _"You don't ever hit me! You'll never hit me again!"_

She stopped momentarily, glaring at him as she thickly gulped. Nick stared at her between his fingers, shock just barely visible from what could be seen of his face. The adults didn't dare approach. She looked as though she'd wanted to scream this to him for a long time, now.

"You… Becky… and all the rest back at the orphanage…" she spat. "You'll never hit me again! None of you! Never! Again!"

She panted after that, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. Her right cheek was puffed up and red where Nick had struck her, but it was like she couldn't even feel the pain from the bruise. She was just so angry.

Steve was the only person there who dared to approach her. He cautiously walked forward, and touched her shoulder. "Jamie?" he said quietly.

She snapped out of her anger, and looked up at him in alarm. It was clear she'd forgotten where she was. She stared at him, shock and fear plainly written on her face. She slowly turned her head, and looked around. Everyone was staring at her with equally shocked expressions. None of them could believe what she'd done. She looked down at her fist, at the blood running down her fingers. That was Nick's blood…

She'd done that; she'd made him bleed. She hit him. She _hit_ him. Everyone had seen her _hit_ him…

Fear replaced the shock on her face, and before Steve could stop her, she turned and bolted away from the scene, running as fast as her little legs could take her.

Steve started to run after her, but then he remembered where he was, and turned to face Colonel Phillips.

"Sir," he said gruffly. "Permission to go after my partner?"

"Permission granted," said the Colonel at once, and Steve took off after the little girl.

The Colonel turned to Erskine. "I admit it, Doctor. You were right," he said, and then he turned Nick, who was still lying down in the dirt, tenderly rubbing his nose. "Get your ass out of that dirt, son!" he ordered.

"B-but sir—!" Nick tried to protest.

"I said up!" Phillips ordered.

Slowly, Nick did as he said and stood back up. Blood was still dripping from his nose, and running down the fingers pressed up against his face. The Colonel glared coldly at the young teenager. Any doubts he might have still had over picking Steve and Jamie as the super-soldiers and instead choosing Hodge and Nick were completely wiped from his mind thanks to this incident. It was one thing to pull pranks and tease a ten-year-old girl; it was another to viciously attack her as he'd just witnessed Nick do to Jamie. Thank God that girl had had enough of his bullying to at least defend herself against him.

"Pack your bags! You're off the base!"

"What?!"

"Now!" shouted the Colonel, pointing sharply in the direction of the kids' bunker. "Go!"

With a furious glare, Nick stormed off to go and pack up his gear. Phillips just frowned in his direction before gesturing for Agent Carter to come over.

"Sir?" she said, walking up to him, but keeping her eyes trained on Nick's retreating form. "Do you want me to follow him, to make sure he leaves?"

"No," answered the Colonel. "Find Rogers and the Harper girl. Tell them congratulations. They've just been chosen for the procedure tomorrow."


	4. The Experiment

**Okay, so it's taken me almost a month to post this next chapter. I know that must seem unfair, considering I posted the first three chapters all within the first forty-eight hours of first posting this story, but please try and understand. I posted those chapters when I really should have been studying for my college finals. After writing those chapters, I set Liberty Belle aside for two weeks and got cracking on studying. Once finals ended a week and a half ago, I tried writing again, but come on! It was the first official week of summer vacation! Naturally I needed some time to unwind after all that studying! I got back to really writing this a few days ago, and voila! Chapter four is done and ready to be read!**

 **I'd also like to take a moment to note that I realized that I forgot to write a very important paragraph back in chapter one, so I went back and reuploaded that chapter to include it. It may not seem like much to you readers, but it's important because it stresses the importance of Jamie's panda bear and Trent's pocket watch. Feel free to go back and read it if you want.**

 **As always, let me take a moment to thank the reviewers for the last chapter:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My most loyal fan!)**

 **\- LITTLE RED FOXX**

 **\- kidamerica123**

 **\- DragonessGem**

 **Your reviews made my day! Please keep reviewing! They encourage me to continue carving out these chapters! Especially this chapter! It's the longest one yet!  
**

 **Disclaimer notice is available at the beginning of chapter two.**

 **Please, enjoy the chapter, and be sure to review when you're done!**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: The Experiment**

Steve tore through Camp Lehigh, willing himself not to lose track of Jamie's retreating form as she sprinted away from the scene. He was not ashamed to admit he was still in slight shock over everything that had just happened. One minute, he was doing jumping jacks with Jamie and the other recruits, both of them struggling to keep pace with the other adults and kids. The next minute, he was lunging on top of a grenade in a meager attempt to keep it from killing an unknown number of people around him, and then, that boy Nick was hitting Jamie, and before anyone could rush forward to stop him, Jamie actually defended herself by hitting him back.

He in no way blamed her for fighting back. Like he'd been telling her before, that had been self-defense. Everyone could see that he clearly attacked her first. No one there blamed her about what had just happened.

He found her in the communal bathrooms, hunched over one of the sink faucets, and trying desperately to scrub away the blood on her fingers. The bruise on her right cheek was looking a bit redder than it had been a few minutes prior, and her eyes were wild. She was clearly in a slight form of shock, and was panicking somewhat over what she'd done. She didn't even look up when he entered.

"J.J.," Steve said kindly, walking up to her. "Are you okay?"

Jamie didn't answer him. She just kept trying to wash her hands.

"J.J.? Jamie?" said Steve, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right."

"I-I-I… I hit him…" she whispered. "I actually _hit_ him…"

The blood was finally washed away from her fingers, and Steve leaned over and shut off the running water. The water mixed with the blood in the basin of the sink, and they slowly flowed together down the drain.

"It's okay," Steve assured her. "Everything's okay…"

"B-but… I b-broke Nick's nose!" she cried, her eyes still wide as she stared down at her knuckles. Now that the blood had been cleaned up, blackish-blue bruises could be seen starting to form on them. "I-I mean… I think I did…! And everyone… everyone saw! I-I-I… I'm gonna be k-kicked off the base, aren't I?! C-Colonel Phillips? He's… He's gonna s-send me b-back now… Isn't he?!"

"No," said Steve sharply. "Jamie, look at me."

Slowly, Jamie did as he said, raised her face up to look at him.

"Nobody there blames you over what happened, and you want to know why?"

"W-why?"

"For starters, you did a noble thing, trying to actually help that boy when Phillips threw that grenade instead of running for cover. He chose to attack you. You defended yourself. You did nothing wrong. Do you understand me?"

"B-but—"

"Repeat after me: I did nothing wrong. I defended myself."

"I… I did nothing w-wrong… I… I d-defended myself…"

"Again. Don't stutter as you say it."

"I… did nothing wrong. I… defended myself."

"One last time."

"I did nothing wrong. I defended myself."

Steve smiled. "Good," he said, gently thumping the side of her arm. She smiled in return. "C'mon," he said, gently ruffling her hair. "I'll walk you to the First-Aid tent. We'll get an ice pack for your face."

"'Kay."

He led her out of the bathrooms, and across the campgrounds to the First-Aid tent. He briefly explained the situation to the doctor on staff, who then proceeded to give her two ice packs: one to be used for the bruise on her face, and the other for her knuckles.

"So cold!" Jamie murmured as doctor pressed one of the cold compresses against her cheek.

"Keep it on the wound," the doctor instructed. "It'll keep the swelling down."

"For how long? And do I have to stay in here?"

"A few hours, and you can leave in a bit. I want to make sure the swelling goes down a tiny bit before you go back to your bunker."

Jamie shrugged, but kept the compress for her face pressed up against the mark, and let the other compress for her hand resting on top of her knuckles. Steve patted her shoulder.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked her. "Is there anything you'd like?"

Jamie thought for a moment, but then shrugged and nodded again. "Yeah. I want Pannie."

"Pannie?"

"My stuffed panda. He was a Christmas present from my Dad when I was eight. I want him right now. Can you bring him to me?"

"Sure. I'll meet you back here in a minute."

He ruffled her hair, and then exited out of the tent. He headed off in the direction of the kids' bunker to retrieve her toy. He was surprised to find Nick alone inside, stuffing his things into his duffel bag. He glanced up as he came in, and Steve noted that blood was still dripping from his nose.

"Oh, great! Now the Colonel decides to send War Girl's weak adult partner to yell at me, huh?" He snapped. "Well, you can go and tell the Colonel he can go fuck himself! War Girl had what was coming to her! I don't regret hitting her! I just regret not moving out of the way after I did! Then my nose wouldn't be fucking broken!"

Steve didn't answer him. The kid wasn't worth his time. Right now, Jamie needed him. He crossed the room to the bed with the stuffed panda bear lying on top of it, and scooped it up before moving to exit to the bunker.

"Hey! Shithead! I'm talking to you!" shouted Nick. Steve continued to ignore him. "Stop fucking ignoring me!"

Steve didn't stop and look twice at the boy. He wasn't worth it.

As he crossed the campgrounds again, he suddenly heard his name being called.

"Steve!"

He turned. Strolling towards him was Agent Peggy Carter. He fought the urge to blush. He was not ashamed to admit that he found the woman to be very attractive. She was truly a beautiful woman. He thought she was simply incredible. However, she was his superior officer, and he was simply a private. He had no chance with her, and besides, he really shouldn't focus too much on her right now. Jamie was waiting for him. He'd stop and find out what she wanted, but then he had to go.

"A-Agent Carter," he said, nodding and saluting to her.

Agent Carter paused upon hearing the slight stutter, but simply dismissed it.

"I have a message for you and Jamie from Colonel Phillips," she said. "Where is she? Have you found her yet? And may I ask why you have her toy?"

"Oh, she's in the First-Aid tent, being looked at for that bruise on her cheek. She asked me to bring her this," he said, vaguely holding up the panda.

"I'll accompany you then," said Agent Carter.

Steve nodded, trying to hold back a small blush, and they both headed in the direction of the tent. Steve pulled back the flap, and gestured for Agent Carter to enter first. She smiled pleasantly to him before entering. Jamie looked up in surprise when she saw her.

"A-Agent Carter!" she said nervously as she stood up from her chair, her eyes wide.

"Jamie," said Agent Carter, nodding to the girl. "At ease."

Jamie slowly sat down at her request, but still stared at her with wide eyes. Steve walked up to her and handed her Pannie.

"This is it, right? I didn't get it mixed up with another kids' toy, right?"

"No… no this is Pannie," said Jamie, not even looking at Steve or Pannie as she hugged him to her chest. Her eyes were still fixed firmly on Agent Carter. "Thank you, Steve."

Agent Carter frowned. It was clear the girl was still worried over what had happened between her and the other boy. She spoke up.

"I bring a message for you and Steve. From Colonel Phillips."

"I'm getting kicked off the base, aren't I?" said Jamie at once. "The Colonel wants me off the base, doesn't he? He's mad that I hit Nick."

"No!" said Agent Carter, very surprised by Jamie's assumption. "That wasn't your fault. You defended yourself. Everyone saw that."

"Living proof of what I was telling you, J.J.," said Steve with a smile. "No one blames you for what happened."

Jamie blinked. She couldn't believe she wasn't in trouble. "Then what does Colonel Phillips want?" she asked.

At her question, Agent Carter smiled. "He wanted me to wish you both congratulations. You've both been chosen for tomorrow's procedure."

Now Jamie looked shocked, as did Steve.

"Us? We're the one's that got picked?" said Steve.

Agent Carter nodded. "We'll be leaving at 0600 tomorrow in order to return to New York. Be ready by then. Just remember not to have any dinner tonight."

And with that, she smiled pleasantly to them both, and then turned and left the First-Aid tent.

For a little while, Steve and Jamie did not speak. They both just stared at the flap entrance, both of them still in shock at receiving this news. Finally, Jamie turned to look at Steve.

"What does 0600 mean?" she asked.

"That's military time," Steve answered, not looking at her, but at the flaps of the tent still. "It means we'll be leaving at six in the morning."

"That's really early," she commented.

Steve just shrugged. "Well, it's a long drive back to New York, I guess," he replied.

They didn't say much after that. They both just became lost in thought.

Eventually, the doctor returned about twenty minutes later, and checked out her knuckles and cheek.

"The swellings both seemed to have gone down," he said. "You can go. Just keep the ice on them for a little longer."

Steve and Jamie exited the tent. It was dark by now, and most everyone else had gone to the mess hall for dinner.

"I'll walk you back to your bunker, if you want me to," Steve offered.

"'Kay. Thanks, Steve," Jamie said, hugging Pannie to her chest.

They walked together in silence for several minutes, their heads still reeling from the news they'd received. Then Jamie piped up again.

"What do you think's going to happen tomorrow?" she asked, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. "I mean… what're they gonna do to make us into the super-soldiers? Agent Carter said we'd have some kind of procedure done… Did she mean surgery?"

"I'm not quite sure, J.J.," Steve replied. "Your guess is as good as mine…"

"I'm… I'm scared, Steve," Jamie mumbled, tucking Pannie under one of her arms so she could grab hold of his hand in her good one. "All I wanted was to help Trent. I still want that. More than anything… But this is more than I thought I'd have to do to help him when I decided I wanted to join the army. I didn't realize what I was getting involved in exactly when Doctor Erskine offered me this opportunity."

"I know what you mean," said Steve. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, too."

Jamie was quiet for a moment after hearing his response. When she spoke up again, her voice was very, very quiet. Steve had to strain to actually catch her words.

"Do… do you think we'll change after the procedure?"

Steve was puzzled by her words. Jamie went on.

"Do you think we'll change? Will we be different?"

Steve frowned, still not understanding what she meant. "Well, of course we'll change. They're trying to make perfect soldiers. Perfect fighters, so naturally—"

"That's not what I mean," she interjected. "I know that physically we'll be different. That's not what I meant."

"Then I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying."

"It's just… I like you because you're nice. You've been very nice to me. There haven't been a lot of people who've been nice to me ever since my Mom and Dad died, and there've been even fewer since Trent went off to war. A lot of soldiers here are… they're not mean to me, per say, but they're not nice to me, either… You just said yourself that the procedure will make us into the perfect soldiers… Will you still be nice to me after the procedure, or will you be like them? Stern and indifferent? And will I still be me, or will I be like that, too?"

Steve didn't answer her right away. He highly doubted that whatever the procedures they'd both be put through would drastically change their personalities, but he needed a way to explain that to Jamie.

"No, I don't think so," he said finally. "I don't believe it's possible to completely change a person's free will or personality with an experiment. I think that they'll just give us something that will make us stronger in the army, that's all."

Jamie's face flooded with relief. "That's good, I was really worried. I've told you before that I want to help the army so I can help Trent, but I don't want the army to change me so much that he won't recognize me when he sees me."

By this time, they'd reached Jamie's bunker, and Jamie walked up to the door.

"You can come in for awhile if you want," she said over her shoulder to Steve as she entered.

Steve nodded, and followed her inside. Nick was gone by now, his bed stripped clean and all his possessions gone. He'd already left the base. Jamie's eyes didn't linger on his bed. She just marched across the room toward her area of the bunker. Steve watched as she set Pannie down on her bed, took out her record player, and popped in her _Wizard of Oz_ record. Judy Garland's soft soprano voice singing _Somewhere Over the Rainbow_ resounded throughout the bunker.

"Changing it up from _Come Josephine?"_

"Yep," she said, not even looking at Steve as she began rummaging through her duffel bag for some pieces of stationary and a pen. "I generally listen to this whenever I write to Trent."

After that, she plopped down on her bed, leaning back against the pillows and using her legs in front of her as a type of hard surface as she began writing. Steve sat down on the edge of the bed. He felt a little awkward just sitting there without talking to her, but he also didn't want to leave her alone right now. He could tell that she was still really upset over what had happened, even if she was trying to hide it away now by burying her attention into writing a letter to her older brother.

It was several minutes until Jamie finally put down her pen.

"There! Done!" she said proudly, holding up her letter and smiling.

Steve turned to her. "That was quick," he said.

"Other than Nick's latest assault and finding out from Agent Carter today that we'll be made into the super-soldiers tomorrow, there really wasn't all that much to say," she answered. "I write to him every day, after all. I tell him of anything important that happens. I just wish I could hear back from him, though…"

"What do you mean?"

"I generally get letters from him every couple of days, but the last letter I got from him was about a week before I first met you. I'm worried about him. He's generally very punctual about sending me letters."

"I see…"

"You can read it, if you want," she suddenly said, thrusting her letter toward Steve. "Maybe he isn't writing because he doesn't like what I've been telling him. You can tell me what I'm doing wrong."

Steve blinked. "I-I don't want to invade your privacy…"

"It's not invading if I'm offering," Jamie retorted. "I don't care if you read what it says. Just tell me if it's good or not."

Steve just shrugged, but decided not to argue and took the letter. Silently, his eyes skimmed the words on the page.

 _Dear Trent,_

 _As I promised to write to you everyday, here is today's letter. Interesting things have happened since yesterday's letter._

 _For starters, let me tell you about Nick. Do you remember Nick? I think I wrote to you in one of my prior letters about him, of how he's one of the ringleaders of the kids that bully me at the orphanage daily. Well, do you remember when I wrote to you about how a bunch of us kids were selected by the United States Army for some project about becoming child super-soldiers? Nick was included in that package._

 _Today during training there was some sort of test when Colonel Phillips released a dummy grenade into the middle of a training exercise. I don't get why he did that, but all I do know is that Nick tripped while running for shelter and his adult partner sort of ditched him. I didn't think twice about it. I just leapt towards him and tried to drag him out of the way while Steve tried to cover his whole body on top of the grenade to prevent it from killing anyone. Remember Steve? I told you all about him in my last few letters! The one who saved me from Nick and Becky and the other bullies that day in the alley, and the one who's been training me in self-defense in our downtime here at the military base?_

Steve paused there and looked at Jamie in amazement.

"You've told your brother about me?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? I tell Trent everything!"

Steve smiled and read on.

 _Anyway, it took everyone a moment to realize that the grenade was a fake, and just when I was about to walk back over to Steve and continue our daily training exercises, Nick suddenly grabbed me and shoved me up against one of the army jeeps. I have to admit, I was stunned. I'm used to him hitting me when in private, but he's never dared to try and hurt me in front of plain view of other adults before, and everyone, adults and children alike, including me, are stunned! He starts screaming at me that I was trying to show him up in training by acting noble or something. Of course I tell him that I was just trying to be nice, but he gets mad and hits me! I think Steve and the other adults were going to try and restrain, but I… I just snapped after that first punch._

 _I hit him back, Trent! Can you believe it? I. Hit. Him. Back! I hit him so hard I think I broke his nose! Then I started screaming that he doesn't hit me anymore, that he'll never hit me again! I just remember being so, so mad!_

 _Everyone was stunned! I only snapped out of it when Steve approached. I guess I freaked out a little, because I saw the way he and everyone else was looking at me, and then I saw the blood on my fingers, and I just took off… Steve went after me, and took me to the First-Aid tent to get an ice pack._

 _What happens next I really don't understand, as I did have a small freak out afterwards… but then Agent Carter showed up at the First-Aid tent, and told Steve and me that we'd been selected to become the super-soldiers! Can you believe it?! Steve's going to become the super-soldier of today, and I'm going to be the child soldier of the future! I'm excited, but I'm also scared… We're getting some kind of procedure done tomorrow. I'm going to be a soldier, Trent! I'm going to join you on the battlefield!_

 _I have to stop now, because I have to go to bed early. It's a long drive back to New York from Camp Lehigh. Write back soon, okay big bro? It's been at least two weeks since I got your last letter! Why haven't you been writing? I understand you're busy with your platoon in Italy, but can't you send me something just saying hi? I miss you, and I'm worried! I'm so worried! You're not dead, are you?! Is that why you haven't been writing?! I worry about you everyday! You told me that Dad's pocket watch would protect you, but it's hard to believe that without any concrete proof that it's still keeping you safe!_

 _I love you, Trent! Be safe! You have to come home!_

 _With Lots of Love,_

 _Jamie_

With a smile, Steve handed it back to Jamie. "It's good," he told her.

"Really?" she asked. "You think so? It's not boring?"

"Well, considering I already know everything that happened today, I didn't have to read it," he answered. "But it was good. I don't see any reason why he wouldn't write back."

"Phew! That's a relief!" she said. "But then why isn't he writing? It's been two weeks! He should have sent something to me by now!"

"It could be a number of reasons," Steve insisted. "Lots of time on the battlefield… cut off from the nearest town to mail the letters and buy stationary… letters got lost in the mail… You never know…"

"So it's nothing to do with me?"

"The odds of it being you are absolute zero."

Jamie beamed at him, and then started rummaging through her duffel bag for an envelope. As she searched, she came across her two different items instead.

"Oh, this one picture is Trent, by the way," she said, fishing out her framed photographs as she continued her search for an envelope, "and the other picture is us two years ago with our parents, Catherine and Brandon Harper."

She handed both items to Steve without looking away from her bag. Steve took both of the photographs and examined them. They were both in black and white, but the picture of Trent was professionally shot by a real photographer, and was shot from the shoulders-up. Trent had the same dark hair and dark eyes as his younger sister, though his hair was matted on his head, and his eyes held a nice friendly warmth to them. They both had the same thin nose, but his chin was sharper. It was hard to tell from the limited amount of shoulders seen in the photograph, but he looked pretty strong, too. Not rugged like some of the other recruits here at camp, but rather his strength was simply the aftereffects gained from years worth of daily exercise.

"Your brother looks like he works out daily," Steve commented. "He seems like an honest guy."

"Before the war started, he was working his way for a baseball scholarship," Jamie replied, finally finding an envelope in her bag. "He actually got an offer to play at NYU, I think. When guys started getting drafted, I lot of guys actually lost their spots on the team, but not Trent. His coach loved him! He's the champion batter! He talked to the Dean of Admissions. They're currently reserving his spot not only at NYU, but on the team, too, until the war is over."

"Really?" said Steve, very much impressed.

"Mm-hm," she nodded. "Trent's coach says so long as Trent doesn't suffer a major injury in the war, he's gonna go far in his baseball career! He reckons Trent has what it takes to play for the Yankees someday!"

"That's impressive," Steve genuinely complimented. "You know, my friend Bucky and I were actually in the middle of an art class when we found out America joined the war."

"Did you drop out when you learned about the war?"

"I only did a year of college, and that was between '37 and '38."

Jamie nodded; her mouth dropped open in a small 'o' as she acknowledged this new information about him, and then began scrawling the address to her brother's army encampment in Italy on the envelope.

As she did this, Steve glanced over at the other photograph of her, Trent, and their parents. It'd been taken at Christmas time, as there was a large Christmas tree in the background that was half-decorated, and the entire family was holding up ornaments as they decorated the tree. Jamie's father, Brandon, was a tall man, and very fit, just like his son. Trent's chin came from him, and aside from his nose while standing side-by-side to his father, he was his carbon copy; what with the same matted, dark hair and strong physique. Jamie's mother Catherine, on the other hand, stood out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the family. While her husband, daughter, and son all possessed rich, dark hair and dark eyes, her hair was a much lighter color, one that Steve couldn't tell in the black and white photograph, but he guessed blonde like him. Like her husband, she was in her mid-to-late forties, but still maintained a youthful appearance. She wore a tasteful amount of make-up in the photo, and her face was broke out in a wide smile as she laughed in mid-moment to something that the Jamie in the picture was saying to her. Despite her dark hair and dark eyes inherited from her father, Jamie actually looked a lot like her mother. Like Trent, Jamie had her mother's nose, but unlike Trent, she also had her rosy cheeks and soft smile. It wasn't easy to tell because even in the photograph Jamie had her hair in pigtails, but Steve was pretty sure that Jamie had also inherited her mother's slight waviness in her mother's hair, too, and her hair also seemed to be just as thick.

Steve smiled as he handed both pictures back to Jamie. They looked like they had been a very happy family. "Your parents look nice," he said.

Jamie paused as she sealed her letter to Trent inside the envelope, a sad smile gracing her lips. "Christmas was always such a great time for my family. We were big on Christmas. That was the year Dad gave me Pannie... and it was actually our last Christmas together as a family," she said quietly. "They died that February…"

There was a pause as Steve considered what to say.

"You… You mentioned before that they died in a car crash?" he said carefully. "I think that's what you said when I first met you in that alleyway."

Jamie nodded. "Trent was just offered a full baseball scholarship to NYU. We all went out to dinner at this fancy restaurant to celebrate. The roads were a little icy when we were driving home. Dad was trying to drive carefully, but there was a drunk driver in the opposite lane. Dad tried to avoid him, but the iciness made us spin right into him. Trent and I were only mildly hurt; a concussion each and a few sprains and cuts and I had the only broken bone out of both of us, but Mom and Dad got the brunt of it. Dad died on impact, and Mom died in the ambulance when we were all going to the hospital. At least we got to say goodbye to her in the ambulance. She told us she loved us, and that Dad loved us too. Then she made us both promise something to her."

"What?"

"She made Trent promise her that he'd always love and protect me no matter what, and she said I had to promise her to always have courage, and be kind to people, no matter how difficult or hopeless life may seem. She told us to promise her, and to never let go of those promises. I can't speak for Trent, although I do believe he's still honoring his promise, but I at least can say that I haven't broken that promise yet, and I'm not going to. I'll never let go of my Mom's dying words…"

Steve gently wrapped an arm around Jamie's shoulders. "I'm sorry," he softly murmured.

"It's okay, it's not like you were the drunk driver," she said.

"Still, that's a horrible way to lose your parents," Steve told her.

"I know it's not right, but a small part of me actually resents Trent a tiny bit," she said sadly. "I know it's not fair to think that, but they died coming home from his celebration dinner, and he at least got one last birthday with Mom and Dad. He was born in January. That's completely unrelated, I know, but… but if they had to die, why couldn't they have died that May? I could have had one last birthday with them too, then. My birthday is in April."

"You must miss them…"

"Uh-huh. Every day…"

"I know exactly how you feel, actually," Steve said. "Both my parents are gone, too."

Jamie looked up at him in interest. "What happened?"

"Well, I never knew my Dad," he began carefully. "He died a couple months before I was born, in the first Great War of a mustard gas attack. Like Bucky and your brother, he was in the 107th infantry. Can't quite remember what his rank was, though… He was awarded a Purple Heart Medal after he died. My Mom would always tell me stories about him, though. She says I was exactly like him. He was my hero growing up. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a soldier just like him."

"And what about your Mom?"

"She died a couple years ago, in 1940. She was a nurse, but she caught tuberculosis from one of her patients. She died not long after."

"That's horrible…"

"At least she didn't suffer a long time… There's still days when I wake up and I forget that's she gone, you know? She raised me on her own. It was just the two of us when I was growing up. I loved her so much, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of her."

"I'm sorry," said Jamie sympathetically.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault…"

"My parents were both teachers," Jamie said. "My Dad taught P.E. and was Trent's high school baseball teams' coach, and my Mom was my elementary school librarian and ran the Drama Club. She often put on musicals and I generally played the lead and sang all the songs."

"Sounds like it was fun."

"Does it ever get easier?" she asked him. "To deal with it, I mean. Is there ever a point where it stops hurting, and when you don't miss them anymore?"

"You're always going to miss them," said Steve at once, not even hesitating to answer her. "Don't ever think for a second that there will come a day when you won't miss your Mom and Dad anymore. You will always miss them, and there's no shame in missing them. As for the pain, that will… lessen over time. It will always hurt, but as time passes, it won't hurt as much as you learn to move on. It just shows that you really did love your family."

"I hope that day comes soon…"

A quiet knock at the door interrupted their conversation. They both turned to see the door open, revealing Doctor Erskine, carrying a rather large bottle of schnapps, and three tiny shot glasses.

"May I?" he tentatively asked, taking only a small step into the bunker.

"Yeah, of course," said Jamie pleasantly.

Doctor Erskine smiled warmly at her and Steve and strolled forward.

"Are you all right?" he asked, true concern for Jamie evident in his voice as he went and sat on the bed directly across from her and Steve. "I had a feeling that that boy was trouble, but I never thought he'd hit you like that."

Jamie frowned, collected Pannie, and hugged him to her chest. "I'll be okay," she said shyly. "I'm used to it…"

Doctor Erskine frowned, but Steve drew a tense muscle in his cheek. A ten-year-old girl should not be used to a fourteen-year-old boy beating her every day.

Erskine chose to ignore this though. His checking up on Jamie after being punched by Nick was not the only reason he decided to pop in on her and Steve. "Can't sleep?" he asked them both.

Steve shrugged. "We got the jitters, I guess."

Doctor Erskine lightly chuckled. "Me, too," he said.

"May I ask you a question, Doctor Erskine?" Jamie piped, looking up from Pannie to look him right in the eye.

"Just one?" asked Doctor Erskine.

Jamie nodded. She bit her lip as she gathered the courage to ask the pressing question on her mind, and then she blurted it out.

"Why us?"

There was a long pause, and Doctor Erskine contemplated on how to answer so she and Steve would understand why.

"I suppose that is the only question that matters," he said finally. He held up the bottle of schnapps, stared at it for a moment, and then brought it closer for Steve and Jamie to see, too. "This is from Augsburg," he said. "My city. So many people forget that the first country the Nazi's invaded was their own. You know, after the last war, my people struggled."

"Struggled?" Jamie asked. "How?"

"They… they felt weak… They felt small…" he trailed off. "And then Hitler comes along with the marching and the big show and the flags and… and he hears of me. My work. And he finds me. And he says, 'You,'" he paused there, pointing a finger at Steve and Jamie as he emphasized what had happened. "He says, 'You will make us strong.' Well, I am not interested."

He set the bottle down on the hard paneling of the floor, and went on. "So, he sends the head of Hydra, his research division. A brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt. Now, Schmidt is a member of the inner circle," he explained. "And he is ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers, but for Schmidt, it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power hidden in the earth, left here by the gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man."

"What types of gods?" Jamie interrupted again. "Like as in the Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?"

"No, it was Norse gods, I believe," Erskine answered. "I never pried. He was delusional. When he heard about my formula and what it could do, he could not resist. Schmidt had to become that superior man."

"Did it make him stronger?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," said Doctor Erskine reluctantly admitted. "But… there were other effects…"

Steve and Jamie exchanged puzzled looks and then turned back to him, curious.

"The serum was not ready," Doctor Erskine explained. "But more important, the man. The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were both chosen. Because a strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power, but a weak man, or child," he added, nodding to Jamie, "knows the value of strength, and knows compassion."

Steve and Jamie exchanged sheepish looks at this before looking back at Doctor Erskine. It was a compliment. They both knew it was a compliment, but they couldn't help but feel somewhat offended, even though they knew Doctor Erskine did not intend to offend them.

"Thanks, I think," said Steve uncertainly.

Jamie just fixed a grin and smiled awkwardly.

Doctor Erskine smiled, and opened the bottle of schnapps, and poured it into each of the three tiny shot glasses. The one's for him and Steve he filled completely, but Jamie's he poured less than a millimeter's worth, only enough for her to have less than sip, just to taste it.

"Whatever happens tomorrow, you both must promise me one thing," he said. "That you will both stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, or child soldier…" He pointed directly to their hearts. "But a good man and girl."

Jamie nodded to him, a kind smile on her face as Steve raised his glass.

"To the little guys," he toasted.

"To the little guys!" Jamie agreed, raising her glass as well.

The three of them gently clinked their glasses. As Steve and Jamie brought the glasses to their lips, however, Doctor Erskine suddenly looked panicked.

"No, no! Wait, wait! What am I doing?" he said, suddenly reaching forward and seizing the glasses away. "No, you both have procedures tomorrow. No fluids."

He poured the liquid in both glasses into his own glass.

"All right. We'll all drink it after," said Steve.

Doctor Erskine chuckled. "No, I don't have a procedure tomorrow. Drink it after? I'll drink it now."

Sure enough, he downed his entire glass.

"Then we'll all go out for ice cream!" said Jamie, hugging Pannie tightly. "We'll each get a big cone with two different flavors! I'll get chocolate and chocolate chip cookie dough! What about you guys?"

"Vanilla and mint chocolate chip," said Steve.

"I'm rather partial to pistachio and blueberry."

"Mmm! Those both sound delicious!"

* * *

The next morning Jamie was roused very early from her bed by Agent Carter. She'd been given a miniature-sized version of the standard woman's private uniform and been ordered to dress quickly, as they had a long drive back to New York. Upon dressing in the tan button up shirt, tie, knee-length tan skirt, garrison cap, and black flats, she repacked her duffel bag and handed it off to another private. Agent Carter explained that unlike the other children who would be going back to the orphanage today, other army officials would go and collect the rest of her belongings from the orphanage later today, and in the meantime, she and Steve were going to be taken directly to where they were going to undergo the procedures to make them into the super-soldiers. The only item she took with her into the car was Pannie. She wanted her stuffed toy for comfort.

That was several hours ago, though. She was currently sitting in the backseat of a car in between Steve and Agent Carter. She couldn't stop fidgeting. She was so nervous. Pannie was on her lap, and she was squeezing the panda very hard in one hand, and playing with the hem of her knee-length skirt in the other as they drove through Brooklyn. The bruise on her cheek from yesterday was a bit blue in color, despite having iced it, and her knuckles were equally bruised up. She kept her head bent to try and hide it. She didn't like how it made her face look so ugly now.

"I know this neighborhood," said Steve suddenly as they drove down one street. He suddenly pointed out the window toward an alley as they passed by it. "I got beat up in that alley… And that parking lot… And behind that diner…"

Jamie looked up as he pointed out the places where he'd endured his own bullying. As they passed a playground, she tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.

"See that playground?" she said, pointing to it to make sure he and Agent Carter saw what she was talking about. "Before Trent went off to war, he used to take me there sometimes after school. He'd always push me on the swings. It was fun. After I went to the orphanage, I used to go there as often as I could. It requires bus admission to get there from the orphanage, and Nick and Becky and all the others weren't going to spend their pocket money just to chase after me…"

Steve patted her head as Agent Carter chimed in.

"Did you both have something against running away?"

Steve shook his head. "You start running, they'll never let you stop. If you stand up, you push back… They can't say no forever, right?"

Jamie just shrugged. "You can't really run when you're surrounded," she answered. "And besides, I was bullied because I wanted to join the army. If I ran from them, kids who'd just beat me for pleasure, who's to say I wouldn't run from the real bad guys, who'd kill me because they have to?"

"I know a little of what that's like," said Agent Carter. "To have every door shut in your face."

Steve smiled. "I guess I just don't know why you'd want to join the army if you're a beautiful dame…" he trailed off.

Both Jamie and Agent Carter stared.

He suddenly realized how strange that sounded. "Or a… A woman. An agent. Not a dame. You are beautiful, but…"

Jamie couldn't help it. She giggled as Steve turned bright red.

"You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" Agent Carter asked him in disbelief.

"I think this is the longest conversation I've had with one," he admitted.

There was a very distinct cough from Jamie at this. Her little face was glaring pointedly at Steve.

Steve and Agent Carter both chuckled. "One that's over four feet tall," he added. Jamie still looked somewhat annoyed, but she did stop glaring. "Women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on."

"You must have danced," said Agent Carter

"Well, asking a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying," he explained. "And the past few years, it just… didn't seem to matter that much. I figured I'd wait."

"For what?" she asked.

"The right partner," he replied.

Agent Carter smiled in return.

There really wasn't any time to say anything else. The driver was pulling over to the curve and shutting off the car. They all climbed out. They were in front of an old fashioned antique shop. Two men in suits and fedoras looked up as they got out, and nodded to them. Agent Carter nodded back.

"This way," she urged, shepherding both Steve and Jamie inside.

"What're we doing here?" Jamie asked, clutching Pannie tightly.

"Follow me, both of you," she said, ignoring Jamie's question.

With curious glances to one another, Steve and Jamie followed her into the shop. There was a bell that rang a bit as they entered. Hearing it, a rather old woman with thinning gray hair and wearing a hand-knit pink cardigan stepped out from the curtained-off back room, and smiled sweetly to the party as she took her place behind the counter.

"Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?" she asked Agent Carter. Her voice sounded frail and brittle.

"Yes," Agent Carter promptly agreed, a smile gracing her lips. "But I always carry an umbrella."

At her response, the woman shifted something from underneath the counter, and motioned for the three of them to go through the door she had come from. Agent Carter led Steve and Jamie through the entryway, and they stopped in front of a huge bookcase, its shelves filled to the brim of old, dusty volumes of books.

Suddenly, the shelves swung forward revealing a secret passage, beyond which was a white hallway with doctors in white lab coats scurrying about and military officials standing guard at each doorway.

Agent Carter strolled purposefully down the white hall, leaving Steve and Jamie to follow after her. They both looked everywhere around them, trying to take in every detail of this secret military base. This had to be one of the most top-secret research facilities in all of America, and they were walking through it! The thought was reeling in their heads as Agent Carter led them all the way down the hall to a set of gray steel doors that were opened for the trio by two guards. Steve and Jamie followed Agent Carter inside, only to be amazed yet again as to what was inside this room.

They were standing upon a steel balcony over a large, circular room filled with lots of large machines with various colors of flashing lights. A number of these machines formed a large semi-circle around two large devices, though one was much smaller than the other, but they were both large enough to hold an adult lying down in one, and a child lying down on the other. More doctors in lab coats and an entire team of nurses were running around in here, checking over all the machines as they ensured everything was safe and running properly, or at least they were until they entered, because upon seeing Steve and Jamie enter, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared in interest at the test subjects.

Jamie shivered a bit upon seeing all doctors and nurses scrutinizing her small form, and moved slightly behind Steve as she hugged Pannie to her chest. She didn't like the way some of the nurses were pursing their lips as they studied her. Steve just patted her shoulder, silently reassuring not to be afraid. She nervously smiled at him in return to his kind gesture.

Agent Carter wordlessly motioned for them to follow her down a short flight of stairs off to the side. Doctor Erskine was patiently waiting for them at the bottom.

"Good morning," he said kindly, shaking Steve's hand and then Jamie's.

"M-morning—" Jamie started to stutter as she hugged her panda bear tight, but at that precise moment there was suddenly a bright flash of light erupting before her eyes, and she 'eeped!' loudly as spots danced across her vision and she dropped her toy.

"Please, not now," said Doctor Erskine sternly to the photographer to the local newspaper as Jamie scrambled to collect Pannie from the floor. The reporter looked a tad bit annoyed, but respected Doctor Erskine's request and scurried away.

As Jamie blinked away the dark spots from her eyes and dusted off her panda, Steve turned his attention to the two devices he and Jamie were standing next to. In those machines, he and Jamie would undergo the experiment… In those machines, they would be turned into the super-soldiers… The thought was daunting. This was it. The moment had finally come.

"Are you both ready?" Doctor Erskine asked.

Steve and Jamie slowly nodded, both of them still unsure as to what would happen next.

"Good," he continued. "Take off your shirts, your ties, your hats, and Jamie? Let down your hair and give Agent Carter your stuffed toy to hold onto."

Slowly, Steve and Jamie did as he had instructed. Surprisingly, Jamie felt no embarrassment whatsoever at stripping off her clothes and letting down her hair from its usual pigtails and ribbons. As only a ten-year-old child, she had not yet hit puberty, and saw this no different than taking off her clothes for a medical examination at a doctor's office. No, she did not hesitate at this instruction. What she did hesitate doing was giving away her bear.

As soon as she removed her shirt, tie, and hat, she hugged Pannie to her chest, unwilling to give him to Agent Carter. Her panda bear had been present from her Dad. She brought it with her as a sense of comfort over what would happen today, and to have courage so she wouldn't be afraid when she underwent the experiment. It felt too soon to give him away and climb into the machine. She wanted to hold onto Pannie a little while longer.

Agent Carter seemed to read her thoughts, and smiled kindly down at the little girl. "I'll take good care of him," she said sweetly to Jamie. "He won't get a scratch."

Jamie considered her words. "P-promise?" she said nervously.

"Pinky promise," she said, holding out her pinky to reassure her. With much hesitation, Jamie wrapped her own tiny finger around it to seal the promise. She gave Pannie one last hug for courage, and slowly handed him over to Agent Carter.

"Pannie was a Christmas present from my Dad," she said nervously as the woman tucked her panda bear under her arm. "Not a scratch or a rip!"

Agent Carter just smiled at her words and nodded, carrying Pannie with the utmost care.

As Jamie climbed into the smaller of the two machines, she spared a nervous look over at Steve before lying down on the soft and foamy padding. Like her, he looked extremely nervous and scared. Seeing her boxing mentor like that did not help her frantic nervous. She started to visibly shaking from head to toe. She wanted nothing more than to bolt up out of the machine, grab Pannie, and run as fast as she could out of the room.

It wasn't too late yet. She could say she was too scared. They could pick another kid. Someone much more brave than her. Someone who wasn't afraid to fight. Someone who wouldn't freak out a bit if they hit someone. Someone who wasn't… her.

Jamie opened her mouth. She was going to say it. She could say it. No one would judge her. They'd understand. There were other kids. They could pick someone else.

Then she thought of Trent.

Trent… her wonderful big brother. He was why she was here. He was the reason she was doing this. All she'd ever wanted was to join the war and help him. This was her chance. Doctor Erskine had been kind enough to give her an opportunity to be with him again. This was her only opportunity. Her only opportunity. She couldn't waste it.

With a firm nod to herself, she closed her mouth and stared up at the white ceiling and overhead lights. She could be brave. She could do this.

As soon as Steve had also climbed into the bigger machine and was lying down as well, Doctor Erskine walked up between the two of them.

"Comfortable?" he asked them.

"It's a little big," Steve said, sounding a tad bit nervous as he readjusted his body. Doctor Erskine chuckled, and then turned to Jamie.

"It's okay," she said, her voice bubbling with fear. "I'm more concerned about the experiment itself than comfort…"

"That's to be expected, I suppose," Doctor Erskine said in reply.

"You save us any of that schnapps?" Steve asked, doing his best to try and keep the conversation somewhat light so as to calm himself, and more importantly, Jamie, down.

Doctor Erskine sheepishly shook his head. "Not as much as I should have," he admitted. "Sorry. Next time."

"Next time?" Jamie repeated with a nervous chuckle, doing her best to keep her eyes firmly focused on a particular point on the ceiling so as not to look at the long, pointy needles that were currently being hooked up to a series of pads in her machine by one of the nurses. "Next time you'll have to treat us to that ice cream I was talking about last night, Doctor. If I can't even have a taste of schnapps, the least you can do is buy me some ice cream…"

Doctor Erskine openly laughed at her words.

"We'll see," he said. Then he turned and called out a name Jamie had not been expecting to hear at all during a medical experiment like this.

"Mr. Stark, how are your levels?"

Jamie ever so slightly sat enough. Sure enough, the famed billionaire Howard Stark was currently strolling down the flight of stairs that she only minutes prior and gone down, and was walking right up to Doctor Erskine and Agent Carter.

"Levels are at one hundred percent," he replied.

"Good."

"We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn," Stark went on, "but we are ready as we'll ever be."

Jamie ignored these words. Her jaw was hanging open. She couldn't believe she was currently in the same room as the multi-billionaire genius, about to undergo an experiment made possible by his machinery. "Howard Stark!" she gaped. "I don't believe it! I didn't think you'd be here! I saw you not even a few weeks ago! At the World Expo! You did a presentation!"

Howard looked over at the girl upon hearing her gush, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Ah, you mean the failed presentation of the hover car?" he asked.

Jamie earnestly nodded. "I don't consider it to have been a failure," she said at once. "You did make the car fly, even if it was only for a short time! That counts for something!"

Howard chuckled again. "You flatter me, kid. You're currently the only person I've met that thinks so. Thanks for that."

"I was there, too," said Steve, looking up slightly from his own machine as he spoke. "I saw that presentation, too. I never would have guessed to see you here of all places, though."

"Yes, well, my inventions are what's making this experiment possible," Howard replied. "Anyway, good luck to the both of you."

He turned around, and walked over to one of the machines besides the devices.

"Agent Carter?" said Doctor Erskine. "Don't you think you would be more comfortable in the booth?"

"Oh, yes, of course," she replied. "Sorry."

"Good."

She turned, and went back up the stairs to a large booth on the other end of the room, carrying Jamie's panda under one of her arms as she did.

Jamie watched her carry away Pannie with great apprehension. Talking to Howard Stark for a moment had definitely relaxed her, but now that her panda plushy was not even in the same room as her anymore, her nerves had returned at full force, and she bit hard on her lip to keep from fidgeting too much.

She stared solemnly at the window in the booth as she watched Agent Carter go inside. It was filled with all sorts of people. Most of them were from the military, but there were a quite a number of government officials there, too. She recognized Colonel Phillips up there, talking to a dark-haired man in a freshly pressed black suit. Something about that man seemed so familiar to Jamie, even though she was pretty sure she'd never seen him before in her life.

She stared quizzically at him for a moment, trying to place how she could possibly know him, and then it hit her. That was New York State Senator Brandt. He was one of the patrons to Project Rebirth, and the man she'd heard Colonel Phillips tell the Harkins back at the orphanage was the one who signed the order forms allowing him, Agent Carter, and Doctor Erskine to take her and the other kids away to Camp Lehigh. She made a mental note to find him later on and thank him for being indirectly related for getting out of that orphanage.

Doctor Erskine picked up a microphone from a table off to the side, and Jamie fought the urge to gulp as he lightly tapped it to check whether or not it was on. It screeched loudly upon his tapping. "Do you hear me? Is this on?" He said into the mic at the people in the booth, immediately attracting their attention. Colonel Phillips approached the window and nodded as the people up there took their seats before the glass. Doctor Erskine continued.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began as two teams of nurses approached Steve and Jamie and began placing the pads that contained the needles on them onto both of their chests, "today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first steps on the path to peace. Peace for not only today in the present, but for peace for tomorrow in the future."

Jamie winced a bit as the needles on the pads broke through the skin on her chest. It was rather uncomfortable, but the pain went as quickly as it had come. They started to hurt a bit again when she attempted to move, though, so she tried to keep as still as she could.

"Now, the first thing I must point out to you all, ladies and gentlemen," Doctor Erskine continued, "is that the subjects are both vastly different. The first is an adult man, and the other, a small female child. Why, you ask, are we attempting this experiment on the girl and not just on the man? The answer is simple: We can fight and win a war today, but who is to say that there will not be another war one day in the future? We need the young one's of today to be prepared to fight those battles for once we are all long gone. As such, although the procedure in which both subjects will be undergoing will be exactly the same, the formula that the girl shall be receiving will be somewhat different. It will allow her body to adapt as she grows older, gradually allowing her body to improve as she ages. Should this experiment succeed, I daresay that she shall one day grow to be much more powerful that the man will be after the experiment is done."

There was a series of intrigued murmurs up in the booth as people pondered this. Jamie blinked upon hearing this. This was news to her. She hadn't been expecting this. Should the experiment work, she would one day grow to be even stronger that Steve? The thought was daunting.

"We begin with a series of microinjections into the subject's major muscle groups," Doctor Erskine went on as the nurses brought out a vast number to tubes filled with different colored serums. The one's for Steve were dark blue, and Jamie's were a rich violet color. They began placing the various tubes inside both Steve and Jamie's machines. They left one tube each of the blue and violet serums; each to be used for duplication purposes should the serums actually work. "The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subjects will be saturated with Vita-Rays."

He paused in his speech as two nurses began swiping cotton balls of rubbing alcohol onto both Steve and Jamie's upper arms to sterilize the areas, and then they proceeded to inject syringes into the spots they had cleaned off.

"That wasn't so bad," Steve said quietly.

"That was penicillin," said Doctor Erskine.

"Oh, let's just get this over with!" Jamie whimpered as the needle in her syringe was removed from her arm. "My nerves are fried!"

Doctor Erskine took a moment to pat her hair in an attempt to calm her down, and then spoke back into the microphone. "Serum infusion beginning in… Five… Four…"

Two more pads covered to the brim in needles were places on Jamie's upper arms, and she winced again slightly as the needles penetrated her skin and entered her body.

"Three… Two…"

She lifted her head up a bit and spared a glance over at Steve. He felt her stare, and tilted his head slightly to give her an encouraging smile. There was no turning back. Both of their lives were about to be forever changed. This was it.

"One."

The doctors manning the main controls of the machines switched the levers. The violet-colored serum slowly drained from its containers and traveled through the tubing it was connected to in the machine, and made their way into the number of needles that were still piercing Jamie's skin. She grit her teeth, but soon had to bite down hard on her tongue in order to suppress a rather loud yelp of pain. The serum was hurting her. It was like someone had somehow managed to liquidize fire, and was forcing it to flow through her bloodstream and into her muscles. It burned her entire body, and she wanted nothing more than to rip the needles in the pads out of her body in order to stop this horribly painful sensation.

When the last of the serum was at finally injected into her body, Jamie released a deep breath of air she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in. Her body was still on fire, but at least the flames weren't growing any hotter. The pain was still there, but it was manageable, now.

"Now, Mr. Stark," said Doctor Erskine, giving the O.K. to continue on to the next step. Howard nodded, and pulled down hard on a lever on the machine beside him. Both Steve and Jamie's machines slowly rose up, giving the people in the booth a clear view of them before the doors on them shut completely, leaving both Steve and Jamie in total darkness. With both machines now closed off, the nurses began hooking up more tubing to the exterior of the capsules.

Doctor Erskine then approached Steve's capsule, and lightly tapped on it to get his attention.

"Steven?" he called out. "Can you hear me?"

"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" Steve joked.

Doctor Erskine smiled, and then proceeded to knock on Jamie's machine.

"What about you, Jamie? Can you hear me, too?"

There was a slight pause before she replied.

"I'm still expecting that ice cream when this is all over, sir," she said, doing her best to keep her tone light, but everyone could still clearly hear the fear and nervousness in her voice.

"We will proceed," Doctor Erskine told Howard. Howard nodded to him, and slowly spun a large dial on the machine in front of him before gesturing for everyone to put on their pairs of safety goggles on over their eyes before doing the same. Then he marched over to a second machine, and turned a small wheel, activating the power in the machines that Steve and Jamie were inside of. As he continued to turn it, he kept his eyes firmly fixed on the display off to the side, and calling out to everyone of the amount of power going into each of the machines.

"That's ten percent," he called out. "Twenty percent…"

As bright white lights shined brightly from both machines, Jamie slowly felt a light tingling sensation spread throughout her body. Especially in her eyes. Her eyes itched a bit. She blinked away the sensation. This wasn't painful, really. Just strange, like the feeling that her whole body had fallen asleep. And her eyes were fine. A few rapid blinks in succession and they felt normal again.

"Thirty," Howard called out again. "That's forty percent."

As another doctor looked at a different display and called out, "Vital signs on both subjects normal," an uncomfortable feeling was beginning to occur from the tingling in Jamie's body.

The burning, fiery sensation from the serum was mixing together with the tingling sensation, and they were slowly inching throughout her bloodstream. Jamie started to squirm in her machine. She didn't care that the needles still penetrating her arms and chest were causing her more discomfort. She wanted the fire and tingling to go away. If they went away, maybe it would stop what was happening to her eyes.

Unlike before, where a couple of blinks could stop the strange, itchy sensation happening in her eyes, now it was there permanently, and it hurt even more. Her eyes were burning a bit. She bit her lip as they watered. It was extremely painful, and she didn't understand why this was happening. The painful feelings throughout the rest of her body she understood and had been expecting, but the pain in her eyes? She hadn't been expecting that. No one had warned her that this would cause her eyes to hurt. Why was this happening? What was going on?

"That's fifty percent!" shouted Howard. "Sixty… Seventy!"

The world went white.

Pain. Indescribable pain suddenly coursed rapidly throughout Jamie's entire body. It was worse than the injections. The injections had only burned her muscles, and it only lasted a few seconds. This pain was nothing like that. It wasn't just burning, it was scalding, white-hot burning pain that preyed not only upon her muscles, but also on her bones and on her heart. It was almost like someone was attempting to force a red-hot piece of iron onto her heart in order to make her heart pump her blood harder and faster throughout her body, while at the same time they were trying to pop each joint in her arms and legs out of their bone alignment in order to make room for her rapidly growing muscles. And that was just in her body, it nowhere compared to the pain in her eyes.

Her two eyeballs were like balls of fire themselves. No, they were fire. Every blood vessel in her eyes was on fire. The bright light inside her machine was blinding her, making the fire only increase and burn hotter and harder. Not even stabbing something sharp into each of her eyes would relieve the pain. It hurt. Oh, how it hurt. She was going to go blind from the pain. She would go blind. It shouldn't be humanly possible for eyes to burn like this. Tears ran down her cheeks, but they only seemed to make the pain increase.

It was too much for Jamie, between the pain spreading throughout her body because of her rapidly developing muscles and burning fire in her eyes. She let out a blood-curdling scream of torturous pain, as did Steve in the next machine over.

"Steven! Jamie!" shouted Doctor Erskine, desperately banging on their machines. Steve and Jamie didn't respond. They both just continued to scream in mind-numbing pain.

Agent Carter burst forth from the booth and onto the small balcony. "Shut it down!" she screamed. "Shut it down!"

"Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark!" Doctor Erskine ordered. "Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!"

The famed inventor frantically jumped to shut down the machine, but Steve's distressed voice stopped him.

"No!" he called out from his machine. "Don't! I can do this!"

Doctor Erskine was somewhat conflicted. He wasn't comfortable continuing the experiment if it was causing so much pain to Steve and Jamie. But Steve said he could bear it, and so long as Jamie did, too, then it should be okay. He turned to Jamie's capsule.

Jamie, however, just continued to scream. How could Steve say he could be handling this? How could he deal with the pain coursing through his body on top of the burning in his eyes? She couldn't even scream out her question. That was much too hard. She could only manage to wail out two words.

" _My eyes!"_ she screamed.

All heads turned at once to Jamie's capsule as it started to jostle a bit as she thrashed about wildly and continued to scream in jarring pain. Oh, how she wanted to get out of this capsule. To get away from the pain this machine was causing to her eyes. She could handle the pain on the rest of her body, but the burning pain in her eyes was driving her mad! How could Steve stand this pain? How could he _want_ to allow this to continue if it caused this much pain to his eyes?

Doctor Erskine, Howard Stark, and all the other doctors and nurses froze. They had no idea what was happening. Pain from rapidly developing muscles was to be expected, but Jamie was claiming that her main pain was because of something happening in her eyes.

"What's happening?!" Steve suddenly screamed out in concern from his own machine. "What is she talking about?!"

" _The fire! My eyes are on fire!"_ she screamed at the top of her lungs, and everyone in the room and up in the booth could hear the pained tears in her voice as she wailed. _"It hurts! It hurts! Make it stop! Make it stop!"_

"Steven!" Doctor Erskine shouted, running up to his machine and banging on it harshly to make sure he was paying attention. "Steven! Are your eyes burning, too?!"

"No! They're fine!" Steve shouted back. "I don't know what she's talking about!"

Doctor Erskine gulped. This was bad. Whatever was happening was only happening to Jamie. He had no idea what was going on. He turned at once to Howard Stark. "Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark!" he shouted. "Kill the reactor! Stop the experiment!"

"Sir! With all due respect, we have no idea what's going on!" Howard shouted back. "It's only happening to Jamie and not Steve! If we stop the experiment now, Steve could be fine, but Jamie could end up possibly blind!"

Doctor Erskine froze. Howard was right. They had no choice but to continue. He banged on Jamie's capsule to get her attention over her screams of torturous pain.

"Jamie! We have to continue! Can you handle it for another minute?!"

" _Hurry! Please hurry!"_ she howled. _"My eyes are on fire! They're on fire! Just make the fire stop!"_

Despite her go ahead, she continued to scream. Everyone was worried, but they had to keep going. Continuing the experiment could very well be the only thing that could keep her from going permanently blind.

With a great amount of reluctance, Howard went back over to the small wheel, and proceeded to keep turning it.

"Eighty… Ninety…" he called out over Jamie's screams. "That's one hundred percent!"

No sooner had the words left his lips did Jamie suddenly screamed so loud, it rattled the window on the booth up above, before abruptly cutting off completely as all the machines in the room started short-circuiting. Sparks flew everywhere, leaving behind great puffs of smoke, and doctors and nurses began frantically jumping away and shielding themselves. Then, as quickly as all the short-circuiting started, the power overload suddenly stopped, and the sparks died away as the both Steve and Jamie's capsules slowly died from the loss of power.

The room was absolutely silent as people slowly removed their protective goggles. Everyone was holding his or her breath. While they were all eager to see if the experiments had worked, at the moment they were all extremely scared to know if Jamie had gone possibly blind from the ordeal.

"Mr. Stark!" Doctor Erskine shouted after a moment, urging him to press the buttons to open the containers. Howard hurriedly complied.

The doors opened to reveal not only great jets of white smoke, but two completely different people to the one's that had last been seen by the audience. Steve and Jamie were now, in every possible shape and way, the perfect soldiers.

The short, sickly and skinny man that had been in the first machine had not only grown several inches during the course of the experiment and was now the average height for a man his age, but had developed serious muscles now, too. His skin was no longer a pale, sickly white, but had become a shade darker, almost as though he had recently spent some time in the sun. His hair color was also much more pronounced, looking sandier than before. His entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and he was panting heavily.

Jamie's physical changes were much more subtle than Steve's. She, too, had grown several inches throughout the ordeal. Not quite as much as Steve, but definitely enough to actually appear her age and not as though she was eight or nine. Her arms, which had before were skinny but still holding onto her childhood baby fat, had become smooth and strong from pure muscle. Her stomach, just like her arms, had lost its natural baby fat as well, and was now purely flat upon her body. Her shoulders weren't exactly broad now, but they were definitely large enough to support her newly acquired upper body strength. But the most prominent of her changes had to be in her face. She hadn't lost any of the natural roundness in her cheeks, but the bones there were sharper now, more defined, and her cheeks possessed a lovely rosiness to them now that definitely hadn't been there before. The bruise on her cheek from Nick was completely gone, as was the bruises on her knuckles. Both black marks had been replaced with smooth, creamy white skin. Her hair, mousy brown before, was now a prominent shade or rich chocolate brown, and framed her face in a natural wave. Like Steve, she too was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and she was panting heavily, trying to bring as much air as possible into her newly evolved lungs.

Immediately, Doctor Erskine and several other doctors and nurses surrounded Jamie's capsule. Steve could wait for a moment. He appeared to be fine. After hearing what Jamie had been screaming during the procedure, they had to make sure she was okay first.

"Jamie?" called out Doctor Erskine hesitantly. "Jamie?"

She slowly opened her eyes. Instead of the previous light brown eyes she'd had before the experiment began, or even milky white one's everyone was half-expecting to see, two dark brown orbs were revealed to the Doctor Erskine and the team of doctors and nurses. They shifted in and out of focus for a few moments as Jamie tried to get her bearings, but then they finally stayed in focus as she looked at Doctor Erskine.

Everything was weird to Jamie. Everything was technically the same before she entered the machine, and yet, it looked so different to her eyes. Everything looked… sharper, somehow. Slicker, even. It was strange. Colors, which once seemed fine to her before, now seemed extraordinary. It was like she'd lived her entire life with a color filter over her eyes, and now, it was finally removed, allowing her to see every color at its true intensity for the very first time.

She realized they were waiting for her to say something, anything, in order to assure them that she still had a sense of vision, and she said the first thing that popped into her head.

"Hey," she said tiredly. "Close your mouth, Doctor Erskine. My Mom says you'll catch flies that way…"

Doctor Erskine lightly chuckled and shut his mouth. She was okay. She wasn't blind.

Immediately, the booth up above quickly emptied. Everyone wanted to get an up close look at the new soldier of today, and the child soldier of the future.

A few nurses assisted Doctor Erskine in helping Jamie down from the containment unit as Howard Stark and some other doctors helped Steve. Slowly, Steve and Jamie turned to look at one another.

"We did it," Steve gasped, limping around a bit with the assistance of Howard as he adjusted to the use of the new muscles in his legs.

"It… it worked!" Jamie exclaimed, taking a few hesitant steps away from Doctor Erskine and toward Steve.

"Yeah, yeah. I think we did it," said Doctor Erskine.

"You actually did it," claimed Howard in amazement as Agent Carter strolled toward the both of them with clean white shirts and Jamie's panda under one of her arms. She gave Jamie back her toy, who graciously accepted it and hugged it tightly, and then gave them each one of the white shirts.

"How do you feel?" she asked the two of them.

"Taller," Steve breathed out as he put on the clean shirt.

"Different," Jamie panted, doing the same and hugging Pannie. "Really, really different…"

"You both look taller," she said. "And different."

"Are you okay, J.J.?" Steve asked Jamie as he fully assessed her for the first time. "I could hear you screaming from inside my own machine. Can you see everything okay?"

"I can see fine!" she exclaimed. "Better than fine! Everything looks… sharper now. More distinct… Everything's different to me, but it's a good different! It's like… It's like I've lived my entire life with a blindfold on, and I'm seeing everything for the first time! It's amazing! Don't you see it, too, Steve? Don't you see how colorful everything is? How pronounced everything looks?"

Steve frowned. He had no idea what she was talking about. He was about to tell her so, when their conversation was interrupted by a sudden explosion from in the booth up in the balcony.


	5. Liberty Belle

**IMPORTANT AU NOTE! PLEASE READ!**

 **First of all, I want to say that I am currently looking for an artist to make a coverart for Liberty Belle. In this chapter, I describe what Liberty Belle's costume looks like. If there is anyone out there who is interested and willing to draw a cover picture of Jamie dressed in the Liberty Belle costume alongside Steve as Captain America, please respond in the reviews and I will PM you to sort out details. I hope that one of you readers is interested in drawing Jamie!**

 **Moving on, I myself am shocked at how fast I managed to carve this chapter out. I must be on a roll! Maybe if I'm not too busy, I can finish this story and have start on the Avengers by the time summer ends! No promises, though. I cannot see the future, and who knows what can happen in my life between now and then. I do promise to try and make speedy updates though. I personally hate long waits for chapters when I'm reading an ongoing story.**

 **As always, let me thank the three loyal readers who were kind enough to review chapter four:**

 **\- LITTLE RED FOXX**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My most loyal fan, you broke your record of always being my first reviewer for each chapter! :( That makes me so sad!)**

 **\- kidamerica123**

 **I must admit, I'm a tiny bit sad by the lack of reviews :( Please, dear readers, be nice and review when you're done reading! Reviews always make my day!**

 **Disclaimer notice of Liberty Belle is in Chapter Two.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Five: Liberty Belle**

Fiery fireballs and great shards of glass rained down from the ceiling, and everyone screamed as they ducked for cover in order to avoid the fire and flying shards. Steve even grabbed Jamie and covered her in order to keep her from getting hurt. As soon as it was safe, he released her, and Jamie every so slightly looked up. One of the government officials in a freshly pressed gray suit had rushed over to the machines that contained the two vials of serums that were to be used to duplicate the experiment, and seized it during the midst of all of the chaos. The government official was a spy.

"Stop him!" cried Doctor Erskine, also seeing what the spy was doing. No sooner had the words left his lips did the spy take a small pistol out from the inner pocket of his suit's jacket, and proceeded to shoot Erskine twice in the chest. He fell to the ground with a loud gasp.

"No!" Jamie's anguished, horrified scream echoed throughout the room as she dropped Pannie in her shock. The spy took advantage of her unintentional cause of diversion, and rushed up the metal stairs to the balcony. Agent Carter wouldn't let him get away that easily, though. She pulled a pistol of her own out of the pocket of her army uniform, and fired it repeatedly as she rushed up the stairs after him. The spy screeched in pain as one of the bullets clipped his arm, but he kept running, and Agent Carter hastily followed. Steve and Jamie both ignored Agent Carter and the spy, and instead rushed to Doctor's Erskine's side. They had to make sure he was okay.

"Doctor Erskine!" Jamie whimpered. "Hang in there! Please, hang in there! You'll be okay! You're going to be okay!"

Doctor Erskine just shook his head at Jamie. He knew this was it. It was his time. Jamie sobbed as he lifted up his hand, and pointed it directly at her heart, and then pointed it at Steve's. His message was clear: _Stay who you both are._ With sad smiles, they both nodded, solemnly promising him that they would. Doctor Erskine smiled, glad to have this relief in his last moments, and his warm eyes slowly closed forevermore.

Steve and Jamie stared at his lifeless body for a few moments, and then they gazed at one another. They had to stop that spy. They couldn't, no, _wouldn't_ allow that horrible man to get away with this. With silent nods to one another, they both leapt to their feet, and raced up the stairs and down the long white hallways after him.

As they ran, the passed by the lifeless bodies of the little old lady in the pink cardigan that minded the antique shop front for the military base, and the two men in the suits and fedora hats that they'd seen lingering about outside the shop when they first arrived were actually undercover agents that had been guarding the hidden base from the outside. They were gone, too.

Agent Carter was standing alone in the very middle of the street, her pistol aimed firm and true in order to fire at an incoming taxicab that was barreling down the street straight towards her. The spy must have stolen it, and was now trying to run her down. Agent Carter didn't care that she would be run over. She just continued firing her gun rapidly as the taxi zoomed on, its driver dead set on running her down.

Fearing for the safety of the young woman he secretly cared for, Steve leaped forward and tackled her to the other side of the street mere seconds before taxi zipped passed, narrowly missing them.

Agent Carter was not pleased by his actions. "I had him!" she snapped furiously.

"Sorry!" he called out off-handedly. He motioned for Jamie to follow him as he tore off down the street after the car. Jamie, however, felt the need to set her in her place before following him.

"Be grateful! He saved your life!" she screamed, and then bolted off down the street after Steve.

As she ran, she suddenly realized what she was currently doing. She was running alongside Steve, literally racing after a car on foot at a speed she had never before been able to muster before the experiment. This was a speed no ordinary human being could be able to muster, and not only were she and Steve catching up to the car, she was running after it in a pair of flats, shoes that were meant for fashion purposes, not practicality and Steve was barefoot. This was beyond incredible. It was like the more adrenaline was coursing through their bodies, the faster they were able to run. She truly was a perfect child soldier, and Steve was the perfect adult soldier.

The taxi turned a corner a few streets ahead. She and Steve were too far behind it to catch up.

"J.J.! Follow me!" Steve yelled, and he suddenly darted off down another side street.

"Steve! What're you doing?!" Jamie screeched, tearing off after him down the other street. "The car went that way!"

"Just trust me! I know a shortcut!"

Sure enough, as Jamie glanced to the side as they ran past a narrow alleyway, she could spot the taxi zooming on down the street on the opposite end.

Picking up momentum, Steve and Jamie ran right into the middle of the street, and began zigzagging in between cars as they crossed it. Jamie made a sharp turn as soon as they reached the other side, and continued to run on, but Steve cut his turn too wide, and wound up crashing into the store window of a bridal shop. Glass shards flew about dangerously as the window exploded and he fell on top of several mannequins.

"I'm sorry!" he yelled over his shoulder to the very much startled shop owner as he scrambled back up to his feet. As he climbed back out of the window, he found Jamie doubling back after him, concern clearly written on her face.

"Steve!" she shouted, coming to a halt in front of him. "Steve! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine! Come on!"

He seized her hand, and all but dragged her behind him for a few seconds as he started running again, only letting her go when he felt her starting to run at full speed again, too.

"Which way, Steve?!" Jamie shouted as they continued running.

"This way, Jamie! Come on!" he yelled, motioning for her to follow him as he turned left down a second alley. She ran after him. This alley contained a locked chain-link fence, which they were rapidly approaching. They both knew they wouldn't be able to slow down in time to avoid hitting it, so there was only one thing they could: jump it.

Bending their knees, Steve and Jamie leapt forward in the air, clearing the fence with relative ease. They landed on the pavement on the other side, and as they darted back into ongoing traffic, cars honked repeatedly as their drivers attempted to slow down so as to avoid hitting them.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Jamie shrieked, her arms stretched out in front of her in alarm as she and Steve started to zigzag between them.

Like Steve said before, their little shortcut had brought them much closer to the runaway taxi, and they both ran faster than ever now, determined to reach it and stop its driver, the Nazi spy.

Catching sight of the two of them chasing after him in the taxi's rearview mirror, the spy tried to shake them off, driving right into the middle of incoming traffic. He knew they'd have a harder time trying to reach him if they were dodging incoming cars at the same time. But to the spy's utter bewilderment, Steve and Jamie began leaping onto the roofs of cars of ongoing traffic instead.

It was like they were playing hopscotch, Jamie thought. She and Steve would leap from one car, run across its length, and then leap onto another car. The drivers of the cars they'd jump on would jolt, and the car would jerk slightly, but she and Steve were completely unfazed by this. They just kept jumping along as they drew closer and closer to the runaway taxi.

Having much longer legs than Jamie, Steve reached the taxi first, and when he jumped onto the taxi's roof, he landed on top of it stomach-first. The car swerved as the spy attempted to shake him off. Steve slid around a bit, but still continued to hold on tight. And then Jamie managed to leap on. She landed rather catlike behind Steve. Without waiting to hear him say anything to her about what to do next, she crawled back to the rear of the car, reeled back her fist, and shattered the back windshield with a single, powerful punch.

She did not wait for the glass to stop flying. She swooped down into the backseat of the car, and scrambled to get behind the cab drivers' seat as she wrapped both her arms around the seat in order to try strangling the spy's neck from behind. The driver went completely berserk from her actions. He turned the car wheel left, just barely missing crashing the taxi into a brick wall as he instead drove down an alleyway that out to the city wharf. Then he pulled the pistol out again, and started firing off several rounds. The first few he fired off he aimed over his shoulder at Jamie in a meager attempt to get her to release him. He missed, but his intention worked. Surprised by the sudden loud bang by her ear, Jamie instantly let him go, and accidentally toppled backward into the backseat with a loud "Ow!" With her momentarily distracted, the spy then began shooting up above him through the roof of the car to try and shake Steve off. Steve dodged the bullets, and instead climbed around to the passenger's side of the car. The spy spotted him, and raised his gun again to shoot him dead on. Jamie caught sight of this action, though, and before the spy could turn his arm to try shooting her instead to stop her, she leapt forward, maneuvered her arm around the drivers' seat, and delivered a sharp whack to the back of his head to throw off his aim.

The spy completely lost whatever control he had over the car as he struggled to regain his senses from the unseen punch, and accidentally crashed part of the car right into a parked car on the side. Steve instinctively leapt away from the taxi, accidentally pulling the passenger door of the car as he did so with his newfound strength. It was a good thing he did, too. The taxi completely overturned from the small collision, and began rolling on its side down the street. Steve stared, horrified about whether or not Jamie was okay in there. Had the spy got her? He hadn't heard any other gunshots, but he could have easily seized and whacked her around a bit. He let out a great breath of relief when he saw her scrambling to crawl out from the shattered back window. She had a couple bruises and a cut over her left eye, but other than that, she seemed relatively unharmed. The spy was kicking open the driver's side door and getting out, too. He didn't have a clear view of Jamie, but he had a clear shot of Steve right behind him, so he instead fired off a round at the new super-soldier. The sound scared the shit of a nearby group of innocent civilians.

As the Nazi spy shot off a few more rounds, Steve seized the door he had yanked off of the taxi, and used it as a makeshift shield from the incoming bullets. Jamie meanwhile had gotten her bearings at last and was running around the side of the taxi, and starting to charge the spy dead on. Seeing the little ten-year-old girl bolting toward him, the spy turned, and seized a little redheaded boy away from his frantic mother. He made a very valuable hostage.

"No! No! Not my son!" the poor woman screamed as the spy began dragging the terrified boy away, the barrel of the gun pressed firmly against the side of his head.

"Stop it!" the boy yelled, thrashing wildly against his kidnapper. The spy ignored him and his mother's continuous screams.

"Please! Let him go! Let go of my son! Don't hurt him!"

Seeing the spy take the boy hostage, Jamie came to an abrupt halt. Yes, she wanted to stop the Nazi, but not at the expense of bringing harm to a boy who didn't look much older than her. She didn't want to be the indirect cause of an innocent civilian death.

The spy saw her hesitate, and before anyone could do anything, before Steve rush forward and try and pull Jamie out of the way, the spy raised the pistol away from the boys' head and fired the gun right at Jamie.

Jamie expected the bullet to come at her at an unseen speed. She expected to feel her chest suddenly explode in mind-dizzying pain. She expected to fall down on the street paving before she could process what was even happening. What she didn't expect was to see the bullet as it shot forth from the barrel of the gun, nor did she expect to see it travel towards her in the very, very slow motion. It was strange. She knew time was ticking past normally, but at the same time, time seemed to have slowed down in her perception. Her eyes somehow were perceiving a speed that was not humanely possible to distinguish. That's why her eyes were burning so much during the experiment. The serum had not only enhanced her muscles, it had improved her eyesight to unparalleled levels.

In a motion nothing short of graceful to the surrounding witnesses, Jamie took a step forward, and seemed to almost pirouette in place as she dodged the bullet, and when she stopped, she skipped a few steps forward before continuing to run on towards the spy, completely unharmed and not a scratch from the bullet on her.

The spy stood there for a moment, not understanding at all what had just happened. He snapped out of it after half a second, and shouted, "Get back!" as he started running backward into the courtyard of an abandoned factory, firing more bullets off at Jamie as he went.

"Let me go!" the boy screamed, but his shouts were ignored. The spy was too stunned to acknowledge him. Just like the first time, Jamie saw every bullet as it approached in slow motion, and each time, she seemed to dance right past each one, her dark brown locks of hair swirling around her head in a wavy waterfall, adding a sense of mystery to her as she half-danced, half-charged after the spy.

Steve ran after her, but he too was puzzled as to what was happening with her. Unlike Jamie, he couldn't see the approaching bullets when they were fired. The serum hadn't granted him this unique ability, and he had dodge behind old metallic barrels and around the corners of the factory's brick walls to avoid getting shot.

As Steve and Jamie turned the corner of the factory leading to the wharf that the spy had run down, they saw him standing still, with the barrel of the gun pressed firmly up against the boy's head.

"No!" Jamie screamed.

"Wait, don't! Don't!" Steve shouted.

He and Jamie held up their hands as they walked slowly forward, showing the spy that they didn't intend to do anything foolish so long as he still had the kid captive.

The moment they did this, however, the spy took the gun away from the little boy's head, and instead raised it back up at them. Steve and Jamie instinctively recoiled, bracing themselves for the feeling of the bullets pounding into their chests. When he fired, though, nothing happened. He had used up all his bullets during the pursuit. The spy growled in rage, and suddenly started dragging the boy toward the water.

"No! Don't!" Steve shouted. His plea fell on deaf ears as the spy flung the boy over the edge of the wharf and then ran off. Steve and Jamie let him. They had to make sure that the boy was all right. They ran to the edge of the dock to see. To their immense relief, they saw the boy afloat in the water.

"Go get him!" the boy shouted back up at Steve and Jamie. "I can swim!"

That was one problem solved. Nodding to the boy, Steve and Jamie took off again after the spy. He was currently in the middle of trying to climb inside what looked to be a tiny, one-man operated black submarine. Catching sight of him entering it and descending beneath the waves, Steve and Jamie did not stop to think twice. They dove right into the water after him. The submarine was pretty fast, but Steve and Jamie were much faster. They were biogenetically enhanced super-soldiers. Being able to out swim a submarine was mere child's play for them.

They caught up to the machine easily, and they each delivered a strong, powerful punch to its window. It smashed open without much hassle whatsoever. The spy's shock upon seeing them being able to catch up with him even while in the water was short-lived, as he immediately panicking and gasping for breath as water began rushing inside his tiny, enclosed space. Steve quickly grabbed him, pulling him out of the sub. Enemy or not, he was not about to let him drown. He motioned for Jamie to follow him back up to the surface, and she nodded as she swam behind him.

Steve flung the spy out of the water and back onto the wharf before he signaled for Jamie to follow him to a small ladder off to the side so they could get out, too.

Seeing them climb out, the spy threw a series of quick, rapid punches at each of them, but Steve and Jamie easily dodged his meager attacks. With a swift punch to the gut from Jamie and a kick to the face from Steve, the spy fell back down on the ground, at last defeated. As he fell, he lost hold of the glass tubes of the blue and violet serums he had stolen from the military base. They shattered when they hit the ground, and their blue and violet contents spilled all over the dock.

Steve and Jamie ignored the shattered remains of the serums that had genetically altered them. They were gone. Destroyed. There was nothing they could do about that. Instead, they kept their full attention on the failed Nazi spy.

Steve loomed over the spy's fallen body, and seized him by the collar of his suit.

"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded.

"The first of many," the spy retorted his voice laced heavily in a thick German accent, and there was an evil glint in his eyes as one of his teeth suddenly broke off. He sneered at Steve and Jamie as he swallowed it. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place!"

Steve and Jamie kept their glares firmly locked on their faces, but deep down, they were confused. What did that even mean?

As they pondered the riddle, white foam suddenly began gathering at the edges of the spy's mouth. It hadn't been a tooth the spy had swallowed. It was a cyanide pill.

"Hail Hydra!" the spy gasped out with a final breath, and then his eyes shut, and he went completely still.

Steve and Jamie looked at one another. They had done it. They had actually done it. They had stopped the spy from away with the serums. Yes, the last remnants of the serums were destroyed, its formulas were lost forevermore, and yes, the spy had unfortunately committed suicide before they could take him in to be questioned by the proper authorities, but still, they had stopped him from taking the serums back to his Nazi allies, and they had avenged Doctor Erskine. That was certainly something to be proud of.

"We did it…" Jamie whispered, her eyes wide as she continued to stare down at the dead spy at her feet. "We stopped him! We stopped him, Steve!"

Steve wordlessly nodded. He himself was stunned by everything that had occurred within the last fifteen minutes. An hour ago, he had been a small, sickly man who couldn't do more than throw a weak punch. Now, he was an enhanced super being that had stopped a Nazi spy from getting away with the formulas responsible for making him and Jamie into superior beings. It was surreal how fast it had all happened.

Slowly, a great number of curious civilians were starting to approach the factory docks, whispering to themselves on theories as to what had just happened and who the mysterious man and little girl could be. Steve heard them approach, and quickly grabbed Jamie's hand. She blinked up at him in surprise.

"Steve?"

"Come on," he urged. "If we don't leave now, we'll get mobbed. We have to get back to the base."

Jamie nodded, hearing the logic in his words, and allowed him to drag her away from the scene before the passerby's could swarm them.

Their return to the secret base was much more eventful this time whereas compared to the first time they had entered it. From the moment they had gone back through the secret door behind the bookcases in the old, musty antique shop, they found themselves bombarded almost immediately by a great swarm of government officials, military personal, a vast number of journalists and reporters, and a team of doctors of nurses, all of them very adamant on trying to say a few words to them.

Jamie whimpered as she and Steve were confronted by the mob, and hid herself behind his back. "Go away!" she said weakly.

The mob ignored her words, and kept pressing closer to the two of them. Steve did his best to try and shield her from their eyes. Couldn't they see that their actions were scaring the poor girl? He himself felt uncomfortable by all the attention.

Luckily, Agent Carter managed to push her way through the crowd. "Clear a path here!" she ordered. "They need to be checked over! Clear a path!"

Thankfully, the mob listened to her, and cleared away slightly so she could pass through to them.

"Both of you, follow me," she ordered.

Steve grabbed hold of Jamie's hand, and followed her through the base.

"T-thank you, Agent Carter," Jamie said in a small voice as they were led inside a small First-Aid station. "They would have kept us there forever had you not have stepped in…"

"Of course," Agent Carter replied as two nurses entered the room, both of them carrying fresh sets of the standard private's uniforms, though Jamie's was naturally smaller, and one of them had her panda.

"Pannie!" Jamie cried, rushing forward and seizing hold of her stuffed panda from the nurse. She hugged him tightly.

"There's a screen over there. Get changed into these clothes," Agent Carter instructed them. "We'll need to draw samples of your blood for documentation purposes once you're both done."

Steve and Jamie both nodded to show they understood. Jamie changed first, and then sat down on the examination table with Pannie on her lap as she fixed her hair back up into her usual pigtails and ribbons while Steve changed next and one of the nurses began swiping rubbing alcohol on her arm with a cotton ball to sterilize the area before moving on to draw a vial of blood. The nurse was done by the time Steve was done changing. Jamie tucked Pannie under her arm and hopped off the table, and Steve sat down next and let the nurse take a vial of his own blood. There was a long stretch of silence as all this happened.

"Think you got enough?" he asked after awhile. The nurse jumped at the sudden question, but nodded and allowed him to pull down the sleeve of his uniform. Agent Carter, who had been sitting and watching the nurse's work silently up until then, got to her feet and began to speak.

"Any hope of reproducing the programs is locked in both your genetic codes," she said, nodding to both him and Jamie. "But without Doctor Erskine, it would take years."

"It's not right what happened," said Jamie, hanging her head to hide the tears glistening in her eyes and hugging her panda bear tightly as she spoke. "He was such a good man…"

Steve gently set his hand on her shoulder, silently comforting her. "He deserved more than this," he agreed.

"If they could both work only once, he'd be proud it was you two," she said, trying to lift their spirits. Steve and Jamie didn't say anything in reply. There was a brief pause, but then she motioned to the door. "Colonel Phillips will want to see both of you," she said. "Follow me."

Wordlessly, Steve and Jamie followed her out of the room, and down a short flight of stairs. As they entered the main room of the base, they saw Colonel Phillips there with Senator Brandt and his secretary. They were arguing very loudly.

"Colonel Phillips," said Senator Brandt, "my committee is demanding answers."

"Great!" said the Colonel, sounding extremely angry. "Why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret instillation in your car?"

Senator Brandt gave no reply, but glared furiously at the silent accusation that Colonel Phillips was implying: that everything that had happened was somehow his fault. Receiving no reply, Colonel Phillips instead approached Howard Stark, who was busily examining the black submarine that the Nazi spy had tried to escape in. "What have we got here?"

"Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country," Howard began. "But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology."

"Then who is?" the Senator demanded.

"Hydra," the Colonel answered. "I'm sure you've been reading our briefings."

Brandt paused at his words. "I'm on a number of committees, Colonel," he said finally.

"Hydra is the Nazi deep-science division," said Agent Carter, bringing the attention of Colonel Phillips and Senator Brandt to her, Steve and Jamie as they walked toward them. "It's led by Johann Schmidt, but he has much bigger ambitions."

"Hydra's practically a cult," the Colonel added. "They worship Schmidt. They think he's invincible."

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Brandt asked gruffly.

"I spoke to the President this morning," Phillips answered as he strolled right up to Agent Carter. "As of today, the SSR is being retasked."

"Colonel?" said Agent Carter, completely surprised by this revelation.

"We are taking the fight to Hydra," Colonel Phillips explained. "Pack your bags, Agent Carter. You, too, Stark," he added over his shoulder to Howard. "We're flying to London."

"Wait! Sir!" said Jamie as he moved to leave the room. "Sir! Aren't me and Steve going?"

"If you're going after Schmidt, we want in," Steve insisted.

"You two are experiments. You're both going to Alamogordo," said Phillips.

"What?!" Jamie exclaimed, not believing her ears. Her only chance to help Trent in this war was being taken away from her. "But… but we can help you!"

"The serums worked!" Steve agreed.

"First of all," said the Colonel, looking directly at Jamie as he spoke. "You were never intended to go out on the battlefield during this particular war."

Jamie stared at him. She couldn't believe what she had just been told. "What?"

"Didn't Erskine tell you?" he asked. "Did you honestly believe we'd put a kid out in the middle of a battlefield? You were going to be the first of many kids that were going to be genetically enhanced, and then spent the next several years in training to become even more powerful. You probably would have been on the battlefield of a war ten years from now. I don't care how desperate the situation is. I'm not about to put a ten-year-old girl out on the battlefield in this war."

Jamie was too stunned by this information to say anything in reply, so Phillips looked back up at Steve. "I asked for an army to fight today, and for an army to have in the future, and all I got was the two of you," he said. "You two are not enough."

With that being said, he turned on his heel, and marched out of the room. Steve and Jamie were completely as he left. The Colonel had just crushed every dream they'd had for going overseas and fighting in the war.

Jamie hugged Pannie in one hand, and grabbed Steve's hand with her other and squeezed it tight. She was fighting the urge to cry. Everything she'd done up until now to help her brother had been a complete waste. She was going to be locked away in a laboratory for the rest of her life. The odds were she would never see her brother again, even if America won the war.

At that moment, Senator Brandt suddenly stepped up towards her and Steve.

"With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point," he said to the two of them. "I've seen you two in action, Steve, Jamie. More importantly, the country's seen it." He looked over at his assistant. "Paper!"

His secretary scurried up to them. In his hand was a copy of the morning paper, which he held up so Steve and Jamie could read the headline: _Nazi's in New York! Mystery Man and Girl Saves Child!_ Underneath the bolded headline, there were black and white photographs of them during their pursuit of the Hydra spy. The first picture was of Steve as he had been holding up the torn off door of the taxicab in order to block the incoming bullets, and underneath it was Jamie's picture. Unlike Steve's the picture of her was blurrier, as the photographer had captured it while she had been twirling to avoid the bullets being fired at her.

"The enlistment lines have been around the block since your pictures hit the newsstands," Senator Brandt went on. "You don't take soldiers, symbols like that, and hide them in a lab." He wrapped both his arms around both Steve and Jamie's shoulders, and then walked with them a few paces away as he spoke his next words. "Do you kids want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"

Steve did not hesitate to reply. "Sir, that's all I want."

The Senator turned to Jamie.

"I have a big brother overseas, his name is Trent," she said. "I got involved in all this because I wanted to help him. If whatever you want me to lets me help him somehow, I'll gladly do it!"

"Then congratulations," said Senator Brandt, shaking Steve's hand and then Jamie's. "You both just got promoted."

* * *

Twenty-four hours later, Steve Rogers was regretting having accepted the plan Senator Brandt had proposed to him and Jamie.

"I don't know if I can do this," he muttered. He was extremely nervous as he paced back and forth behind a large stage curtain. The time for his and Jamie's first performance was drawing closer and closer. He looked down at Jamie, who was actually looking somewhat excited at the prospect of what they were about to do. She beamed up at him.

"Don't worry, _Captain America!_ This is gonna be fun!" she chirped, an exuberant smile plastered on her face. Steve just frowned at the name she called him.

Senator Brandt's assistant nodded as he set a spiky crown on her head, being mindful of the curls that had been elaborately fixed into her dark brown hair by a team of stylists a few hours prior.

"Nothing to it," he agreed, sizing both Steve and Jamie from top to bottom one last time to check if they were indeed presentable. "You two sell bonds. Bonds buy bullets. Bullets kill Nazi's. Bing, bang, boom! You're American heroes."

"It's just not how I pictured getting there," Steve muttered.

"Relax, Captain!" said Jamie. "You're going up there with me, after all! I'm a professional at this sort of thing!"

Despite his nervousness over what he was about to do and annoyance at being forced to do it at all, Steve couldn't help but lift an amused brow at her words. "A professional?"

"I told you before, didn't I? That my Mom ran my school's Drama Club? She had me as the star! I know exactly what to do! Just follow my lead and you'll be fine!"

"You know, I am surprised at how well you're taking this, Jamie," he said. "I'd have thought you'd be disappointed at the fact you're doing this instead of going overseas and being with your brother."

Jamie looked momentarily annoyed by his words, but then she frowned and shrugged nonchalantly. "First of all, don't call me Jamie right now, or even J.J.! It's Liberty Belle while I'm in costume! The whole point of adding masks to these ensembles is so that we have secret identities! And of course I'm disappointed! If I were given the chance, I'd be on the first boat to Italy tonight! But if I have to be doing anything else right now instead of fighting, I'm glad it's this! I told you before that I like performing! I'm just glad I'm doing something I like! My only annoyance is that the Senator is insisting I leave my hair down during the shows and not up in my usual pigtails."

"You heard what he said, Jam—" Steve cut himself off when he caught sight of the glare Jamie was sending him. "Fine then, Liberty… You heard what he said, Liberty, that he thinks people wouldn't make the connection between this so-called character and the girl in the paper yesterday should you have pulled your hair back. Your hair was down all throughout the chase."

"I still think I look cuter in pigtails…"

Brandt's assistant chimed in at this. "The Senator has got a lot of pull up on the Hill," he assured them. "You two play ball with us, you'll both be leading your own platoons in no time."

Steve frowned, but nonetheless took the blue cowl the assistant handed him with the white 'A' stamped across the forehead, and slipped it on over his head. Jamie nodded to show she understood, and she too slipped on her face covering. Unlike Steve, she was not wearing a cowl. She had a small mask made completely out of blue fabric, which stuck to her face to hide her identity.

At that moment, there was a loud drumroll, and a number of trumpets blasted loudly from the opposite end of the curtain, followed swiftly by an assortment of other instruments.

"Take the shield!" the assistant whispered to Steve while he grabbed a rather small metal torch off to the side and handed it to Jamie. As Jamie took the item with a smile on her face, Steve reluctantly grabbed hold of the flashy shield he'd been provided. "Go!" he urged them, and to both Steve and Jamie's complete surprise, he shoved them through the curtain, and they both stumbled out onto the stage.

The audience saw them come out, and there was a rather large eruption of ecstatic applause. Steve fought the urge to give them a sheepish grin. He truly felt ridiculous in this getup. He was wearing a one-piece uniform, the majority of which was almost completely bright blue. The sleeves, however, were white, and the entire section around his stomach was covered in rather large red and white stripes. He also wore bright red boots and red gloves, and upon his chest was a single white star. The shield he carried completed the look, what with the single, thick blue line across the top of it with three white stars, and the long red and white stripes that ran along vertically down the rest of it.

Jamie, on the other hand, loved the thrill of the spotlight, and smiled cheerfully to the audience when she heard them applaud them as they came out. She stood before them wearing a bright, sparkling sleeveless knee-length dress. Her upper body was covered in shiny blue material that matched Steve's uniform, and flashed brightly when the spotlight shined on her, and upon her chest was a big white star, just like Steve's. Along the sides of the upper portion of the dress, there were single red stripes, complimenting her elbow-length red gloves and knee-length red boots. The pleated skirt of the dress was also bright blue, and shifted back and forth with white with every other pleat. With the spiked crown on her head and the torch in her hand, she looked like a modern, child-like version of a colorful Lady Liberty, and were it not for those items along with the mask, she'd have easily blended in with the other chorus girls standing alongside her and Steve on the stage.

Senator Brandt's plan was for Steve and Jamie to become all-time American idols through a series of live musical performances, propaganda movie serials, and even have their own comic book characters and trading card series to encourage the American public to join the war efforts, and all under the stage names of Captain America, and his young sidekick Liberty Belle. Their performances would promote the general public to buy bonds, which would help the soldiers overseas receive more bullets and tents and other necessities needed.

The Senator had explained that this would only be temporary. He would of course do everything he could to help them actually get overseas and eventually have them leading their own platoons, but it would take some time. He'd do his best to work his magic with the other politicians up on Capital Hill in order to override Colonel Phillips decision not to include either of them on the battlefield, but in the meantime, he firmly believed that the American public needed to see them as a public image. They could keep the people's spirits up and their hopes high when they thought about the war. Until they could actually be overseas and fighting in the war, what America needed right now was faces they recognized. Faces they'd seen had done something extraordinary and that they could rally behind.

The American public needed an extraordinary team. A team like Captain America and Liberty Belle.

The other ten women acting as their chorus girls began to march in place and sing, and their first performance began.

" _Who's strong and brave,_

 _Here to save the American way?"_

It was an upbeat, catchy show tune. The kind that although it gets stuck in your head for hours on end, you like that it's stuck in your head, and you find yourself humming it for hours with a smile on your face.

Hearing the short brake in the song, Steve discreetly lifted his shield, where he'd secretly taped a copy of his and Jamie's lines for them to peek at during the performance, as there was a lot they were going to have to say.

"Not all of us can storm a beach or drive a tank," he called out, staring more at the lines on his shield than at the audience as he spoke. "But there's still a way all of us can fight."

" _Who're the two who vow to fight_

 _For what's right, night and day?"_

"Series E Defense Bonds!" called out Jamie in a singsong voice. She was enjoying herself very much. Even though she was naturally a quiet little girl unless around people she was truly comfortable with, she'd always loved to perform on stage. When she was onstage, it was like she could be herself, a naturally happy little girl, and people wouldn't think she was weird. When she was on stage, she could be a star. "Each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy's gun!"

" _Who will campaign door-to-door for America?_

 _Carry the flag shore-to-shore for America?_

 _From Hoboken to Spokane,_

 _America's Sweetheart and the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan!"_

That was Jamie's cue. She continued on in her lines.

"It doesn't matter if you're as young as ten-years-old, or as old as ninety-two! Everyone here has the power to make a difference!"

" _We can't ignore there's a threat,_

 _And a war we must win…"_

"A few coins may not seem like much," called out Steve, "But those few coins could mean the difference between warm nights in the barracks, and cold nights around a fire."

" _Who'll hang a noose,_

 _On the goose-stepping goons from Berlin?_

 _Who will redeem,_

 _Heed the call for America?_

 _Who'll rise or fall,_

 _Give their all for America?_

 _Who's here to prove that we can?_

 _America's Sweetheart and the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan!"_

Steve and Jamie moved back for a few moments as the chorus girls broke out into a wild dance, and a line of men dressed in the standard army privates uniform came marching on stage, each one beating a drum as they too sang their catchy theme song.

After a few moments, the chorus girls made a space in the kick-line for the two of them to come forward. It was their next cue. Steve and Jamie stepped forward again and continued their lines.

"We all know this is about trying to win the war," Steve went on as an actor impersonating Adolf Hitler slowly crept on stage with a fake pistol. Steve, Jamie, and the rest of the actors ignored him as he slinked along. What happened next involving him would actually be very amusing. "We can't do that without bullets and bandages, tanks and tents."

A couple of kids in the front row of the theatre were really into the show, and suddenly began screaming to get Steve and Jamie's attention and warn them about the Hitler actor.

"Turn around! He's right behind you!" shouted the boy.

"It's Hitler! He has a gun! Look out!" shrieked the girl.

Jamie fought the urge to giggle at their worry as she went on with her own lines. "That's where you come in! Every bond you buy will help protect someone you love!"

"Keep our boys armed and ready," said Steve, "and the Germans will think twice about trying to get the drop on us."

At that moment, the Hitler actor burst forth from behind the line of girls, and charged straight toward them. As Steve and Jamie turned around, pretending they'd only just now noticed fake Hitler, the chorus girls gasped in mock horror. Oh, no! It was Hitler! He'd surely be the end for everyone here!

This fakeness from the girls lasted only momentarily, however. Jamie proceeded to deliver a pretend kick in between the actor's legs. The Hitler impersonator pretended to howl in pain, and then Steve threw a mock punch to his nose, and the actor fell to the floor of the stage, pretending to be knocked out cold.

The audience loved it. They went berserk with cheering, laughter, and wild applause as the chorus girl pretended to swoon over the Captain's skills and the bravery that little Liberty displayed.

" _Stalwart and steady and true,_

 _Forceful and ready to defend_

 _The Red, White, and Blue!"_

Next came the part that Steve had been dreading the most, but Jamie had really been looking forward to: the epic dance break. Steve really didn't know how to dance, but he did have a couple choreographed steps in place he had to do just so it seemed like he was dancing. This would cleverly be disguised by the fact that Jamie would do several twirls on the stage at the same time, thereby drawing the audiences' attention to her rather than him.

Steve marched in place a bit and saluted kindly to the kids from before as Jamie skipped forward and spun around several times in succession as she clicked a special button on her torch. Instantly, a series of sparklers shot out, creating a ring of sparkling fire around her as she pirouetted in place. The audience 'oohed,' and 'aahed,' at the dazzling sight.

" _Who'll give the Axis the sack,_

 _And are smart as a fox?_

 _Who're making Adolf afraid_

 _To step out of his box?_

 _Who're the two who waked the giant_

 _That napped in America?_

 _We know it's Liberty Belle and Captain America!_

 _Who'll finish what they began?"_

This was it. The big finale.

The very back of the stage opened up somewhat to reveal a short series of platforms, at the top of which was a rather large white motorcycle. Steve and Jamie climbed up the hidden flight of stairs off to the side of one of the platforms to reach the topmost one with the motorcycle.

Jamie quickly sat on the motorcycles seat, and posed and look cute as Steve grabbed the bike by each of its two wheels, and held it up high over his head. Thanks to enhanced strength from the serum, carrying the bike with Jamie sitting on top of it at the same time was a piece of cake.

The crowd gasped. They were marveled by the Captain's display of strength.

" _Who'll kick the Krauts to Japan?_

 _America's Sweetheart and The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan!"_

As the chorus girls sang the final high notes of the theme song while dancing the last few steps in their kick-lines, Jamie clicked the special button on her torch again, and tossed it high into the air. The sparklers erupted again, showering the entire stage with glowing embers. She caught it just as the music cut off and the performance officially ended.

The crowd clapped and cheered harder than ever before as the curtains swung shut.

* * *

Just like Senator Brandt predicted, the rise of Captain America and Liberty Belle brought a whole new level of devotion of helping the War at Home. The American public was now involved as they'd never been before. People were buying bonds, kids were collecting scrap metal, housewives were growing victory gardens, there were more people working in factories, and more people were volunteering and giving blood a the Red Cross… There was no shortage of people trying to help out however they could.

The Senator kept them in New York for the last few weeks in June, but as soon as July rolled around, he had Steve and Jamie start traveling across the country, to begin a nationwide, morale-boosting tour to promote the war. It was the perfect time to begin a tour. It would coincide with the Fourth of July, the most patriotic day of the year for any American. Unfortunately, it also coincided with Steve's birthday.

"Great way to spend a twenty-fifth birthday," he found himself muttering to Jamie as the two of them were loaded onto a tour bus bound for Buffalo on the first day of July. "Instead of hearing someone singing 'Happy Birthday,' I'll be singing that stupid theme song…"

"First of all, Steve, our theme song is not stupid!" Jamie said at once as she plopped herself into one of the seats on the bus, her panda bear in one hand and her ruined copy of _The Wizard of Oz_ in the other. She still hadn't been able to buy a replacement or at least repair it. "It's catchy! I like it! I'm gonna have to remember to buy a copy of a record of it once we reach Buffalo! Secondly, your birthday's coming up?"

Steve nodded. "I was born on the fourth of July, if you can believe it."

"Really? That means you really _do_ deserve the name Captain America!"

Steve chuckled at her words. "Just don't tell Brandt. He'll use it as a way to garner more publicity for this tour, and that's the last thing I want…"

He didn't say anything else after that. He just grabbed a newspaper, and began lightly doodling on one of its blank corners. He was so caught up in his own self-pity and brief sketch, he didn't notice the sly grin that spread across Jamie's face, and when she stood up a little while later to go and speak with Brandt's assistant, he thought nothing of it.

As he had predicted, a few days later, they performed a major show in the big performing arts center in Buffalo. It was a major spectacle, with twice as many chorus girls and there had been such a huge crowd. The public had gone wild from the special Fourth of July performance, and Captain America and Liberty Belle had to stay late after the show to sign autographs and pose for pictures with excited fans.

By the time Steve and Jamie finally returned to their hotel after the show, it was well past midnight, technically now July 5th, and Steve was in a somewhat grouchy mood. He had nothing against kids, his friendship with Jamie was living proof of that, but he even had to admit that after all the autographs he'd signed that night and pictures he'd posed for with so many little kids, even he had to admit he was somewhat exhausted with them, so when Jamie began insisting she accompany him to his hotel room to talk for a few minutes, he was somewhat reluctant to allow it.

"It's late Jamie," he mumbled tiredly to his young protégé as they exited the hotel elevator on the third floor. "I'm really tired… Can we talk in the morning?"

"It's not that late, Steve!" she insisted, not appearing to be the slightest bit fatigued after the long performance and was still bouncing up and down the walls of the hallway as she spoke. "And what I have to say is really, _really_ important!"

"Can't you tell me now while we're walking?" he sighed. He liked Jamie, he really did, but he really wanted a small break from kids at the moment.

Jamie vehemently shook her head. "No! I have to tell you in your room! It's important I tell you in there! And it can't wait until tomorrow! I have to tell you now! Tonight!"

"All right," he grumbled. "Just make it quick."

She cheered heartily, and then grabbed his hand, and literally began dragging him down the hall to his room. Steve sighed. He had no idea what she wanted right now, but he hoped she'd say whatever she wanted to say quickly and then leave him in peace. He really just wanted to take a hot shower and then go to bed. It'd truly been a lousy birthday for him.

When they reached his hotel room door, she looked up eagerly at him as he entered and flicked on the light. He was completely taken aback by what he found inside.

On the wall over the headboard of the hotel bed there was a white banner, with the words, _Happy Birthday, Steve!_ stamped across it in red, white, and blue letters. On top of the bed was a small circular cake with chocolate frosting, two plates, two plastic sets of utensils, and a rectangular package wrapped in brown paper.

Jamie ran right past him into the room, stood beside the bed, and lifted her arms high over her head in excitement.

"Surprise! Happy birthday, Steve!" she cheered.

Steve stared. He was completely stunned by this certain turn of events. Of all the reasons he'd been thinking of when Jamie said she wanted to talk to him in his room before he went to bed, this had not at all crossed his mind.

"You… you got me a cake?" he said after several moments.

"Well, Brandt's assistant did if you wanna be specific. Don't worry," she added sharply when she saw him suddenly look annoyed. "I told him not to tell Brandt, because you are right. Brandt would have made your birthday a big spectacle for the whole country. I told him to keep quiet about it. He bought the banner, the cake, and I even asked him to get you this!" She held up the wrapped gift. "Everyone deserves a present and a cake on their birthday!"

Steve took the gift. She'd gotten him a present. He was very much touched.

He slowly unwrapped the gift, only to be surprised yet again. She'd had Brandt's secretary buy him a leather-bound portfolio, with several blank pieces of sketch paper inside, and a neat set of artist's charcoal pencils.

"I saw you drawing back on the tour bus," she exclaimed. "I don't know if you like to draw all the time, but I thought it'd make a nice gift! Do you like it? You don't have to say you do if you don't… I'd understand. It can be returned if you don't…"

Steve shook his head at her suggestion. He was smiling from ear-to-ear as he gently ruffled her hair. "No, I do like it, Jamie. Honestly, I do. I love to draw. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Really?!" she asked. "I'm so glad! I was so worried that you wouldn't…"

"No, I love it. I've actually been meaning to get something like this for myself for a while now, so thank you."

Jamie grinned, so pleased he liked her present, and then nodded in the direction of the cake. "I hope you like chocolate! That was the only flavor Brandt's assistant could find on such short notice!"

And the two sat down and each had a slice of cake.

Buffalo was not the only stop on their tour, though. A few weeks later, they moved on to Milwaukee, and then a couple weeks later Philadelphia, followed quickly by a couple weeks in Chicago. When they finally returned to New York City for another big show, it was the middle of October.

As autumn had rolled around, schools were back in session. Now, Jamie couldn't exactly go to school since she was always traveling, so she was currently receiving her fifth grade education through a series of tutors that traveled along on the road with her on the tour. It was a little annoying for her to make time for school in between shows, but Jamie dealt with it. Another side effect of the serum showed that she and Steve now had nearly eidetic memories, so her schoolwork was a breeze, and besides, being Liberty Belle was a blast, especially now that she was back in New York again.

She was also still training with Steve in between all this. It didn't matter that they weren't currently fighting in the war right now. She still wanted to learn how to box.

"The Senator might tell us tomorrow he finally pulled enough strings to ship us off to Europe!" she explained to Steve. "If that happens, I want to be prepared to fight alongside you!"

Steve agreed, and he continued mentoring her in the finer points of boxing. Now that she was genetically enhanced, she was doing a much better job at learning from him, and he himself was doing much better training on his own.

"Tonight's performance is completely sold out!" Senator Brandt told the two of them as they got ready backstage one night while they were in New York. "I have a feeling tonight's gonna be big!"

"Every show we do is big, sir!" Jamie said with a smile as she pulled on her mask.

"I actually have big news for you two after the show," Brandt went on. "As soon as you're done signing autographs, come and find me here. You're both going to be pleased."

"All right, sir," said Steve with a nod as he too pulled on his cowl. "We're looking forward to hearing it."

At first, it seemed as though that night's performance would be no different than any of the other one's they'd done for the past four months. They went on stage, they said their lines as the chorus girls sang and danced all around them, Steve lifted the motorcycle and Jamie as he'd done a thousand times before, and Jamie twirled her sparkler torch up in the air, showering the stage and audience in a dazzling display of fiery sparks. As always, the crowd cheered madly as the curtains fell.

It was after the performance where things went very wrong.

Things seemed to be okay at first. They stood side-by-side in the main hallway of the theatre, and posed for pictures and signed autographs for all the fans. The Senator even stood in a picture for the newspaper, of him shaking hands with Captain America and patting Liberty Belle's head around her spiked crown. It was just the usual hullabaloo after another show.

Jamie was in the middle of signing an autograph for seven-year-old boy when she heard voices she had not been counting on hearing that night, but really should have expected.

"Form a line, kids! No pushing!"

"Big smiles, everyone! You're getting your pictures taken, too, remember?"

Jamie quickly shoved the paper she'd been scribbling her stage name on back at the boy and glanced around him. The Harkins were here with the other kids from the orphanage, and they were struggling to get them all into line to meet her, Liberty Belle, and Captain America. They must have saved their money for several months to afford to buy tickets for every kid in the orphanage to come and see tonight's show. And if they were here, that meant Nick, Becky, and all the other bullies were here, too.

Steve saw her completely freeze up next to him. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

She discreetly nodded in the direction of the Harkins. "See that couple over there?" she said. "That's the Harkins! They… They brought all the kids at the orphanage to tonight's show!"

Steve frowned. He understood what she meant by _all_ the kids. "Just smile for the pictures and sign the autographs," he muttered quietly. "Don't make chitchat. If that boy and his friend the girl try or say anything, let me handle it. Do not say or do anything in retaliation."

"'Kay," she gulped, nodding tensely as she fixed a fake smile on her lips.

At first, it seemed as though there wouldn't be any problems. The kids from the orphanage did not recognize Jamie at all. The Jamie they knew from the orphanage was a short and scrawny girl with light brown hair and eyes, whereas Liberty Belle was an average-sized ten-year-old with dark brown hair and eyes. The younger kids screamed wildly when they saw her in person, and had stars in their eyes as Jamie signed them her autographs and posed with them and Steve for pictures. The teens there were a little oblivious to her. They were more interested in stand-alone pictures with the Captain. He was the real star of the show, and she was just the sidekick in their eyes. Had these been any other fans, Jamie would have been somewhat offended by their treatment, but as these were teens from the orphanage, she was glad they weren't paying her too much attention. Although none of them recognized her, some of them were in Nick and Becky's gang, and she really didn't want to spend too much time with them.

As the little girl she and Steve had been posing for a picture with walked back over to the Harkins, the next kid stepped forward, and Jamie saw at once that it was Becky.

Becky glared hatefully at her, and Jamie knew at once that she recognized her. She forced her body not to freeze up, and fixed the biggest fake smile she could on her lips.

"Hi, there!" she said sweetly, discreetly nudging Steve's leg as she spoke in order to get his attention. "Do you want me to sign something?"

Becky thrust a small sheet of paper in front of her. As Jamie hurriedly took it and tried to sign 'Liberty Belle' as fast as she could on it, Becky stepped forward.

"I know it's you, Freak!" she spat. Jamie's fingers trembled a bit, but she forced her hands not to go tense as she signed her name. "I can't believe that out all the kids, they picked you! _You!_ Of all people! The one who really should have been carted off to the electric chair because she's insane!"

Jamie's shoulders shook a bit, and she forced herself not to react as she handed her autograph back to Becky. She was not crazy. She wasn't. She did not deserve the electric chair.

"Do you want a picture or not?" said Steve gruffly, sensing Jamie's discomfort. "There are a lot of kids waiting, after all."

Becky marched forward, and stood between Steve and Jamie for the picture. As the photographer prepared his camera, Becky leaned over and began hissing in Jamie's ear.

"I should have been Liberty Belle! Not you! That Colonel or General or whoever he was wanted me! Me! You're here just because that stupid old man pitied you!"

"That's not true," said Jamie before she could stop herself. Becky looked over at her in surprise, not expecting to have heard her talk back. Jamie herself was surprised by how strong her voice sounded. She sounded as though she was not at al afraid of Becky, even though deep down she was feeling the exact opposite. "I'm a good person. You are not. Even if I hadn't been chosen to go to that boot camp in your place, you never would have been Liberty Belle. You don't deserve the honor of this name."

There was a click and a flash of light, and the moment between them for the photograph was over. As Becky walked back over to where all the kids from the orphanage were waiting, she had a stunned look on her face. Jamie didn't watch her walk away. She was too busy trying to force herself to calm down. That had been nerve-wracking.

"Good for you," Steve whispered as the next kid started walking forward. "You stood up for yourself."

"Thanks," she whispered back.

A couple more kids came up for pictures before Jamie caught a glimpse of Nick.

To say Nick was pissed off seeing Jamie here, as Liberty Belle, signing autographs and posing for pictures for fans, would be an understatement. He was boiling mad. It was impossible not to notice the hateful glare on his face as he glowered at her.

Jamie shuddered, and moved a bit closer to Steve as Nick strolled forward for his turn. She was worried about what would happen next.

Steve immediately recognized him. "I'll sign your sheet," he said quickly, stepping in front of Jamie. He didn't want this boy anywhere near her.

"No thanks," Nick growled. "I'm just here for an autograph and picture with Liberty, and Liberty alone."

He forced his way around Steve, and shoved his sheet of paper right under Jamie's nose.

"I should strangle you for what you did," he snarled as Jamie hurried to scrawl her name on his slip of paper. "I should beat you senseless… Thanks to you, I got kicked off the base, and when the stupid Harkin's found out, I was in so much trouble. I was grounded for over a month… So I should beat you until I make you scream. That's what I should do… but no. Instead, I'm gonna thank you…"

Jamie stared at him, her pen slipping from her fingers.

As he grabbed his autograph and moved beside her for the picture, he went on, hissing underneath his breath as he talked. "I thank you for hitting me, because if you hadn't, I'd be in your place right now. Performing stupid shows and signing autographs for dumb kids like you. What are you even doing that's so great? For all your big talk on fighting in the war, all you've done is smile and act as though the war is a joke. You're not even a War Girl anymore. You're a Show Pony."

Unlike with Becky, Jamie had no retort for this. She just kept a smile on her face as the photographer snapped the picture. It wasn't until Nick was gone did she allow herself to frown. She so badly wanted to cry, because deep down, Nick was technically right. Ever since the serum had biologically changed her, she really hadn't done anything worthwhile. Sure, the performances and all the movie cameos were fun, but she'd forgotten the real reason why she even was Liberty Belle. In her thrill of performing, she'd forgotten why she was here at all. Who was she even helping by doing these performances? Sure, people bought the bonds, but she herself wasn't doing anything to help the war.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for tonight," said Steve suddenly. All over the theatre, there was a great shout of protest from all the kids still waiting to see them. Even Jamie looked up in surprise at his words. They usually stayed with the fans for at least another hour. "I'm afraid Liberty and I are needed for an important battle against the Germans. Good night!"

And before Jamie could react or their fans could protest, Steve grabbed Jamie's hand and began dragging her out of the main hall of the theatre and towards their dressing rooms. She waited until they were safely inside the dressing room with the door shut before turning to him.

"Why'd you end our time with the fans so soon?" she asked.

"Because it was clear you needed to get away after that," he said. "You were clearly upset after hearing what those kids had to say."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"There's nothing to apologize for," Steve said, bending down on one knee to her level so as to look her straight in the eye. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't instigate anything. They chose to be mean. They wanted to see you get upset. But you didn't. You acted mature beyond your years, and I'm proud of you for that."

"You are?"

"'Course I am, J.J.," he said, smiling as he gently ruffled her hair behind her spiked crown. "You're my sidekick. I'll always be proud of you."

Jamie beamed at him, her sad thoughts fading away. "Thank you, Steve."

There was a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in," Steve called out.

The door opened to reveal Senator Brandt and his secretary.

"Is there a problem?" Brandt asked as they entered. "You two are supposed to stay out there for a little while longer. Is everything all right?"

Jamie bit her lip. She really didn't want to explain to the Senator that Steve had ended their fan session early because she'd been upset over what Nick and Becky had said to her. It was humiliating.

"Everything's fine," said Steve at once. "Jamie was just getting tired. We've done so many late night shows these past few days, we haven't gotten a lot of sleep."

Jamie smiled at him in a silent thank you. He patted her shoulder in reply.

"Ah. Well, no matter. It shouldn't be a problem anymore."

"What?" said Jamie, she and Steve puzzled. "What do you mean, sir?"

"I told you both before that I had big news for you both after the show and you were done with the fans. Since you both left the fans early, I might as well tell you now."

"Tell us what?" Steve asked.

"I haven't been able to get you guys to lead platoons of your own quite yet," Senator Brandt explained, "But I did manage to convince the other politicians to let you both go to Europe."

Steve and Jamie stared, not believing their own ears.

"We're going to the battlefield? Really?" Jamie asked, her excitement unmistakable in her voice. Brandt nodded.

"Wait, I'm confused," Steve interjected. "If we're not going to be fighting just yet, why are you sending us to Europe?"

"It's for another tour," Brandt clarified. "A morale-boosting tour for the troops. Better pack your bags, Captain, Liberty. You're both heading to Italy."


	6. The Hydra Factory

**This is my longest chapter yet, and I am very, very proud of it. Seriously, over 17,000 words for a chapter! I almost broke my personal record of word count. In my Titanic story, the last chapter goes over 20,000 words.**

 **I have two favorite scenes in this chapter. The rescue of the men from the cells, and the reunion scene. Those two scenes were so much fun to write!**

 **Moving on, let me first thank my reader ML143, who has kindly offered to draw a cover picture for Liberty Belle. I am very eager to see the drawing when finished and see Jamie dressed up in the Liberty Belle costume. I absolutely cannot wait!**

 **As always, let me acknowledge and thank the readers who were kind enough to review the last chapter:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My most loyal fan!)**

 **\- DragonessGem**

 **\- LITTLE RED FOXX**

 **Please, be kind like these following readers and review once you're done reading the chapter! Reviews are greatly appreciated to writers, and make them feel as though the story they're writing is truly worthwhile!**

 **Please, enjoy chapter six!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six: The Hydra Factory**

Jamie was bouncing up and down in excitement as she stood beside Steve behind the makeshift stage. She was finally here. She was in Italy, and was about to put on her first show to an American regiment.

Two days after Senator Brandt had announced that Steve and Jamie would indeed be going to Europe at long last, she, Steve, Brandt's assistant, and Jamie's private tutor had all boarded a large steamship. Brandt himself was unable to make the trip due to being a politician and having to stay on Capital Hill. Jamie had been somewhat disappointed by their means of travel.

"Couldn't the Senator have at least put us on a plane?" she asked Brandt's assistant. "Flying's much more fun than sailing!"

Brandt's assistant chuckled at her comment. "And also more expensive," he calmly countered.

Jamie pouted at his response, but had no time to comment on it, as her tutor had dragged her off for her private lessons.

Throughout the weeklong cruise to Italy, Jamie had barely seen Steve at all except during dinner, as her tutor had kept her all but confined to her stateroom to work on her lessons. It was the first long stretch of time to work on her schoolwork in months, and her tutor would not let up on giving Jamie even a single free moment to herself.

Jamie grew bored of her lessons by the end of day two on the ship. Thanks to her now near eidetic memory, she really wasn't even being challenged in her schoolwork anymore. She just breezed through the assignments the tutor gave her with little to no problems whatsoever. Indeed, as the tutor droned on to her one day about the California Gold Rush of 1849, Jamie just doodled a picture of herself as Liberty Belle standing heroically beside Steve as Captain America on a battlefield right after an battle on the paper she was supposed to be using to take notes. She showed her drawing to Steve that night when her teacher wasn't looking.

Steve laughed when he saw the drawing. "You're a good artist," he complimented her.

"Really? You think so?" she asked happily.

"Yeah, though obviously you struggled with drawing the hands," he noted, seeing the sausage-sized fingers that the him and Jamie on the paper had.

Jamie grinned sheepishly. "Hands are always hard for me to draw," she reluctantly admitted.

"Would you like me to show you a trick to drawing good hands?" Steve offered her. "I told you before I did a year's worth of college. Did I tell you that the college I went to was an art college?"

"No, but I'd love to see your secret to drawing good hands!" Jamie chirped. Steve smiled to her, and they spent the rest of dinner that night drawing.

When they docked in Italy, there was no time to stop and sightsee. Steve, Jamie, Jamie's tutor, and Brandt's assistant were immediately escorted from the docks to a military jeep, and driven all the way out to the nearest United States Army platoon, which coincidentally turned out to be the platoon that was also the nearest to the front lines' of the war. Only five miles away to be exact. That was yesterday, though. They'd at least been given a full night's rest before having to do this first show overseas.

"I'm so excited, Captain!" Jamie claimed as she put on her mask while she and Steve waited for Brandt's assistant to tell them that their audience was fully assembled and they could start the show. "And nervous! We're finally here! We're finally going to perform for the troops! This is so exciting!"

"Keep cool, Jam— Liberty," Steve corrected when he caught Jamie starting to glare at him. She was very keen on following the secret identity rule. She always referred to him as Captain America, or at least Captain or 'sir,' while he was in the cowl, and she insisted he refer to her to the same way by addressing her as Liberty Belle, or just Liberty for short while she wore her own mask. "Don't lose your head."

"I can't help it! I'm so glad the Senator was finally able to pull enough strings to get us here! I know we're not fighting yet, but at least we're here! That counts for something, right?"

Steve shrugged. "I guess so… You know, we are in Italy right now. I take it you're wondering whether or not Trent's out there?"

At his words, Jamie immediately frowned, and then kicked a pebble by her feet with her one her red boots.

"I guess," she muttered thickly. "But it really doesn't matter either way in the end…"

"Hey, don't be like that," Steve advised. "I know I've never met Trent, but I'm sure he'd be hurt if he heard you talking like that."

"Oh, yeah?" she challenged. Her eyes were narrowed and filled with unshed tears. "Well, if he really cared at all, he'd have written to me by now! It doesn't matter how busy we've gotten, I've written to him everyday in the past four months since I've met you, and I've not got one letter back from him! Not one!"

Steve frowned. While he didn't like her pouting right now, he understood where she was coming from. In the four months since he'd first met Jamie back in that alleyway in New York, Jamie had written a letter to Trent every single day, but never received any replies. He could understand how that must be hurting her.

"Hey," he said kindly, setting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "You don't know what's been going on over here, or what might've happened to him—"

"That's the thing, though, Cap," she insisted. "Nothing _has_ happened to him! If something had happened to him, like he'd been killed or captured, the army would've sent a letter about it! That means he's fine and has just been ignoring me! I'm entitled to be angry about that!"

Steve sighed. "Look, you don't know that for sure. He might have been writing to you all this time, but the replies just got lost in the mail, or something. And that door swings both ways. If your letters got lost on your way here to him, he may be thinking that you haven't been writing to him, either. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she mumbled in agreement. "I just wish I'd know for sure the real reason is why I haven't heard from him at all…"

"Tell you what," said Steve. "Before we leave Italy for London, I'll talk to Brandt's assistant and your tutor. I'll tell them both to give us a couple full days off, and we'll track down your brother's army encampment. How does that sound?"

"You'd do that for me? Really?"

"Of course. It's your brother. While you're here, you should spend some time with him, and I admit, I am curious on meeting him. He sounds like a nice guy, and besides, you mentioned before that he's in the 107th. That's the same infantry that Bucky's in. Wherever Trent is, Bucky most likely is, too."

"I'd like to meet Bucky! You said before he's your best friend, right?"

Steve nodded. "Known him since I was your age."

At that moment, Brandt's assistant came strolling toward them. "It's time," he said.

Steve and Jamie nodded, the latter with an excited smile plastered to her face, and they slowly approached the side stairs leading up to the small stage as the opening bars to their theme song began to play.

As they climbed onto the stage and stood up before the large gathering of young soldiers, they were surprised that they didn't receive any sort of applause. Generally their audiences applauded them once they saw them take the stage. They disregarded the lack of welcome, though. These soldiers had never actually seen them in person, after all. They would simply have to do the show and make them enthusiastic about Captain America and Liberty Belle.

"Hey there!" called out Steve into the microphone. "How many of you are ready to help us sock old Adolf on the jaw?"

None of the soldiers responded to his question. They did not cheer loudly in confirmation that they were willing to help him or Liberty take down Hitler, nor did they at least raise their hands to show that they, as one soldier in particular, would help. They just stared rather irritably at Captain America and Liberty Belle, as though they were already bored by them despite being on stage for no less than ten seconds.

Jamie glanced up at Steve, they hadn't been expecting this, for the men in the army to be so uncooperative, but Steve did not meet her gaze. He was pressing his lips together tightly, trying to figure out how he could get the men before them to be more enthusiastic about the show.

"Uh, okay…" said Steve awkwardly. "Um… we need a volunteer!"

"I already volunteered!" shouted someone in the audience. "How do you think I got here?"

There was a collective laugh from a great number of the men around him.

"Bring back the girls!" someone else in the very back called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to make sure he was heard. The men around him agreed, and there was a great eruption of catcalls and whistles following his statement.

This time, Steve met Jamie's awkward gaze. This wasn't going at all how they'd planned.

"Let me handle this," he muttered quietly to his young sidekick. He knew that these men were not in the mood to see any of her usual stage tricks of pirouetting in place while she made sparklers burst forth from her torch. He knew her well enough to know that she'd only be greatly insulted and hurt by the soldier's jives if she were to try talking to them. He'd take the brunt of their words, and spare her any pain if he could.

Jamie stared at him. "But—"

"No, Liberty," Steve lightly hissed so the microphone wouldn't catch their words. "Let me handle this…"

He turned his head back to face the men in the audience.

"Um… I think they only know our one song, but, um… Let me… I-I'll see what I can do…"

"You do that, sweetheart!" shouted a man in the front row.

"Nice boots, Tinker Bell!" yelled someone else.

Steve's jaw tensed. He really should have expected this. He should have expected that the men overseas wouldn't really care about him and Jamie as the icons of the war. To these men overseas, Captain America and Liberty Belle were a joke.

"Come on, guys," he let out lamely, but still courteously to the men in the crowd. "We're all on the same team here…"

The crowd just laughed at his words.

"Hey, Captain!" shouted someone from the middle of the crowd as he got to his feet. "Sign this!" He turned around, and flashed Steve and Jamie his bare bottom.

As the men in the crowd laughed at the rude gesture, Steve attempted to shield Jamie's eyes. She really shouldn't see this, but Jamie had finally had enough. Ignoring what her mentor had told her, she deftly swatted his hand away, and grabbed the mic.

"You do not disrespect the Captain like that!" she snapped. "He is a good, kind man! Braver than any of you put together!"

"Brave?" someone in the back shouted out. "He's not brave! He just sings and dances on stage all day! Just like you, sugar!"

"War's no place for a pretty little girl like you, princess!" somebody else yelled. "Go back home with Captain Spandex, there!"

Jamie paused as the men in the crowd laughed in agreement, greatly hurt by the jives. Steve tried to seize the mic away from her.

"Liberty, _stop!"_ he snapped.

Jamie just ignored him. "Captain America and I have traveled a very long way to see you all today! To thank you for your services!" she pressed on, trying to keep her shoulders from shaking so the men wouldn't know how upset she actually was. "You can at the very least be respectful—"

"Services?! You call dying a service?!" somebody up front shouted. "I'm just here because the draft demanded it!"

The agreed shouts from the crowd were starting to make Steve very nervous. He needed to get Jamie out of there now. If he didn't, who knows how hurt she'd end up getting emotionally, and possibly physically, too. He tried to grab her hand to pull her off stage, but she whacked his hand away. She had to try at least one more time.

"All Captain America and I want is to help you end this terrible war," Jamie went on, but this time, everyone could hear the tears she fighting back in her voice. She was very, very hurt by their words. "We have both been working very hard for all of you to ensure—"

"Working hard? Honey, I hardly call smiling dancing on a stage all day hard!" a voice yelled out from somewhere in the middle.

As the men laughed, one man in the audience got to his feet, and chucked an old, rotting tomato right at Liberty. Jamie flinched as the fruit came flying right at her face, and squeezed her eyes tight as she braced herself for the impact of being covered from head to toe in its rotting, slimy contents. To her complete surprise, the feeling never came. She opened her eyes. Steve had blocked the tomato with his fake shield.

"Come on," he urged as he blocked a second tomato from pelting them both in red with his shield. "Let's go."

He grabbed her hand, and dragged her off the stage before she could protest, and not a moment sooner, as lots of the other men were beginning to throw food at them now, too.

"Bring back the girls!" shouted someone as they left. His wish was granted. The chorus girls took their place on stage, and the soldiers whooped and cheered happily at last as the music for the Captain America and Liberty Belle theme song started up.

Steve ignored the cheers from the audience for the girls. As soon as they were both behind the stage again and out of sight, he chucked off his cowl and turned to Jamie.

"Jamie, I told you to let me handle the crowd," he lightly scolded as she removed her own mask and Brandt's assistant rushed up to them. "Why didn't you listen?"

"I… I couldn't just stand there and listen to them humiliate you like that!" she said sadly. "I just wanted them to stop… I didn't think they'd start throwing food at us!"

"Don't worry," Brandt's assistant said as they began to climb down the steps of the stage. "They'll warm up to you guys. Don't worry."

Steve and Jamie both just gave him encouraging fake smiles as they nodded to him. Light raindrops were beginning to fall from the cloudy sky.

"Guess we'll head back to our tent for now, then," Steve muttered, taking note of the rain. "Come on, Jamie."

"Coming, Steve."

They walked silently back to their shared tent. It seemed as though all the hard work they'd done for the last few months just to get here had just been a huge waste of time. They may have won the hearts and kept hope alive with the general American public, but it looked as though the army had no place for either of them. To the soldiers of the United States army, Captain America and Liberty Belle were nothing more than useless characters that had been created just for the war propaganda.

When they reached their tent, Jamie went straight to her duffel, and took out Pannie, her portable record player, and her copy of _The Wizard of Oz._ It's ripped page fell out as she took it out of her duffel.

"You still haven't fixed that or gotten a new one?" Steve asked, his voice dull from the disappointment of their show to the soldiers, but still curious about her book as he pulled out the leather portfolio she'd gotten for him for his birthday.

"I'm not planning on buying a new copy," she answered as she popped her copy of _Come Josephine_ into her record player. "This was my Mom's copy from back when she was a kid. It's irreplaceable. I just haven't had the time to go and look for tape to fix it."

"Oh," he said, and they fell silent as the words of the first verse of _Come Josephine in my Flying Machine_ began filling the tent. Jamie did her best to read her book despite its ripped out page as she cuddled Pannie, and Steve began doodling a picture of himself and Jamie as monkeys dressed up in the Captain America and Liberty Belle costumes as they wheeled back and forth on unicycles as they carried umbrellas over their heads.

The rain droned on, but neither Steve nor Jamie took any note of it. It was as though the weather was mocking their melancholy moods. It wasn't until they heard a voice that neither of them had been expecting to hear did they snap out of their depressed states of mind.

"Hello, Steve, Jamie."

Steve and Jamie both looked up. In front of them stood Agent Carter, looking just as pretty as she had the last time either of them had seen her four months ago.

"Agent Carter!" Jamie gasped.

"Hi," said Steve, though he was unable to mask his surprise of seeing her again out of his voice.

To his and Jamie's surprise, she blushed. "Hi," she said back as she sat down beside him.

"We weren't expecting to see you again," Jamie said, her eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

"Officially, I'm not here at all," she replied. She paused for a moment, and then added, "That was quite a performance."

Jamie went very still as she recalled the horrible performance, and looked away. Steve just gave her a sheepish shrug.

"Uh, yeah," he agreed, looking away slightly. "We had to improvise a little bit…"

"A little bit?" said Jamie sadly. "Try everything!"

Steve patted her shoulder. He knew how excited she'd been about today's performance. "The crowds we're used to are usually twelve." He added.

"As I understand, you're both 'America's New Hope's.'" Agent Carter pressed.

Jamie gave her a grim nod. "That's right. America's Sweetheart and The Star-Spangled Man With A Plan."

"Bond sales take a ten percent bump in every state we visit," he went on emotionlessly.

"Not just bond sales," said Jamie tonelessly. "Wherever we go, you get entire cities working double shifts in factories for weeks on end."

"Is that Senator Brandt I hear?" said Agent Carter at once.

"Don't criticize the Senator!" said Jamie at once. "The performances are usually fun!"

Steve just sighed. "At least he's got us doing this," he somewhat agreed. "Phillips would have had us both stuck in a lab."

"And these are your only two options?" She asked, glancing down the sketch he'd been drawing. "Lab rats or dancing monkeys?"

Jamie sighed. She was growing even more miserable by the conversation, if that was even possible. "So long as Colonel Phillips is in charge, apparently so," she muttered, hugging Pannie tightly.

"You were meant for more than this, you know," Agent Carter told her gently. "You both were."

Steve and Jamie did not reply to those words. They both just seemed to grow even more depressed.

"What?" Agent Carter asked, not sure what she'd said that had upset them.

Steve sighed again. "You know, for the longest time I dreamed about coming overseas and being on the front lines, serving my country…" he paused for a moment as he trailed off. "I finally got everything I wanted, and I'm wearing tights."

"My only wish was to come here so I could help Trent," said Jamie, hugging Pannie even tighter. "That's all I wanted. I just wanted to help my big brother. Now I wonder if he even wants my help or misses me at all, considering the last time I heard from him was before I even met either of you…"

There was a sudden loud honk from somewhere off to the side. All three of them turned in the direction of the noise. There was a military ambulance rapidly approaching the Medical Bay tent. Two doctors scrambled out from the tent as the ambulance came to a full stop, and hurried to open the back door. They slowly lowered a wounded man out of the ambulance via a stretcher, and rushed him into the tent.

"They look like they've been through hell," Steve commented.

Jamie lightly smacked his shoulder. "Swear word, Steve!" she scolded.

He half-heartedly chuckled and ruffled her loose brown locks of hair.

"These men more than most," Agent Carter explained. "Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him, and less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured."

Both Steve and Jamie wheeled around at her words. The 107th. That was the infantry that Trent and Bucky were in.

"The 107th?" said Steve in alarm.

Agent Carter nodded, confusion filling her face. "What?" she asked.

"No…" Jamie whispered. "No!"

She threw Pannie and her book back onto her cot. Steve was doing the same with his art portfolio. They both flew out of the tent, desperate to find Colonel Phillips.

"Come on!" Steve yelled over his shoulder at Agent Carter, seeing that she wasn't following.

It didn't take them long to find the Colonel. He was sitting in another tent and going over battle plans.

"C-Colonel Phillips!" Jamie gasped as she and Steve approached his desk.

"Well," said the Colonel, sounding very amused to see the two of them again after four months. "If isn't America's Sweetheart and the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan. What is your plan today?"

Steve ignored the insult. "We need the casualty list from Azzano," he demanded.

"You don't get to give me orders, son," said Phillips, sounding quite stern.

"I just need one name," said Steve, fighting very hard to keep his voice level and neutral. "Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th."

"Make that two names!" added Jamie. Unlike Steve, she was on the verge of full-blown panic. She had to know. She had to know what had happened to Trent. "My big brother's in the 107th, too!"

Colonel Phillips immediately shot a furious scowl at Agent Carter. "You and I are gonna have a conversation later that you won't enjoy."

"Please tell us if they're alive, sir," said Steve. "The first one's B-A-R—"

"I can spell," Phillips interrupted.

Steve and Jamie stood before him, both waiting to hear the news with baited breath.

The Colonel slowly got to his feet, and began shuffling through a stack of condolence letters on a desk behind him. "I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count," he began, looking directly at Steve at he spoke. "But that name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."

Steve stared, not wanting to believe his ears.

"Well, what about my brother?!" Jamie asked desperately. "What happened to him?!"

"Well, what's his name?" the Colonel asked.

"It's—"

"Sir!" called out another army private as he strolled up to the small gathering, carrying a series of small envelopes.

"Not now, private," said Phillips.

"But sir," the private pressed. "We received three more letters today for _that_ soldier."

"You mean the sergeant?" asked Phillips, now looking over at him in interest.

The private nodded, holding up the letters. "Yes. I only came to ask if you've tracked down that soldier's younger sister yet to mail his condolence letter to, as well as return all her letters back to him. If not, I'll throw them in the bin with the other few months' worth of letters."

"Still haven't found the kid," answered Phillips nonchalantly with a shrug. "Toss 'em with the rest of the lot."

"Yes, sir," said the private. As he turned to leave, Jamie caught sight of the handwriting on one of the envelopes. Her eyes went wide.

" _Those are mine!"_ she screamed. The private jerked around in alarm as she lunged forward and seized all three envelopes from his hands.

"Hey! What're you—?"

"Shut up!" Jamie snapped. She was staring at all three of the envelopes in her hands as she spoke, her eyes wide and frantic with shock. She'd recognized her own untidy scrawl anywhere. After several long moments she looked back up at Colonel Phillips. "These are my letters," she said slowly. "These are letters that I wrote to my big brother! Sergeant Trenton Harper of the 107th Infantry! What's going on?! Why is this private asking what should be done with them?! Why does he have them and not Trent?!"

The Colonel stared at her for a several long seconds, for once shocked for words. Then he sighed.

"I never guessed…" he muttered to himself out loud. "How did I not make the connection?"

"Sir?" said Steve. He was also confused by what was going on.

Phillips ignored him and turned to the baffled army private. "Find the rest of the letters and take them to this girl's tent. She's the kid we've been looking for."

"Y-yes, sir!" said the private, still a tad bit startled from Jamie lunging at him. He left without another word, looking more than pleased to get out of there.

Phillips then turned to look at Jamie. "I owe you an apology, Harper. I never realized you were the same Jamie Harper we've been looking for for months now…"

"What's going on?!" Jamie repeated. "Why did that man have my letters for Trent?! Why hasn't he been writing to me?! I haven't heard a word from him for over four months! What's going on?!"

Phillips sighed. "First of all, you need to understand that we weren't able to find you to inform you of what happened due to a paperwork error. Your brother listed you as his only living relative, but also wrote down your address as your old home, not the orphanage. Because of this, nobody, least of all me, connected the dots that you were the same Jamie Harper that was related to him. We've been trying to sort out who you could be and where you were living for months now so we could send you a letter. I formally apologize."

"Stop beating around the bush!" Jamie demanded, tears in her eyes. "Tell me what's happened to Trent!"

Colonel Phillips paused, trying to find the courage to break the news, but then he shrugged and just blurted it out.

"Your brother went missing behind enemy lines almost four months ago."

Silence.

Jamie stared at him, not daring to say a word. Her jaw was dropped, and her eyes were wide with shock.

For a long time, it seemed as though she wasn't going to say anything in reply. Then she seemed to lose all concept of reality. She lost her balance, and began tumbling to the ground.

"Jamie!" said Steve, he and Agent Carter rushing to grab her arms before she hit the ground completely. She hadn't fainted. She just seemed to have lost the will to keep standing. As soon as he and Agent Carter helped her back up, she began speaking.

"He's… he's missing?"

Her words were no louder than a soft whisper against the drizzling rain. Phillips nodded to her. She stared at him for a little while longer as she let Phillips' statement sank in. Suddenly, her eyes went stony.

"Are you telling me," she began, her voice low and icy, "that not only have you not informed me that my brother — _my only brother —_ has been missing for four now, _but you've done nothing to rescue him?!"_

She screamed the last bit so loud as she slammed both her hands onto the desk that all three adults took an involuntary step back. They'd never seen Jamie like this before, face red, and her usual smiling face fixed in a furious, raging glare. The only time that could compare was when they had seen her scream at Nick after he struck her. She was definitely a force to reckoned with when she really and truly angry.

She panted a bit after her furious scream, but then her glare faded, and tears began flowing down her face as she began to sob.

"My brother… My only brother!" she wept.

Steve patted her shoulder comfortingly, and stepped forward. "What about the others?" he asked. "Are you planning a rescue mission?"

"Yeah," said the Colonel, scoffing as he rolled his eyes. "It's called 'winning the war.'"

Jamie stared at him. "If you know where they — in particular Trent — are, why not at least—?"

"They're thirty miles behind the lines," Colonel Phillips interrupted. "Through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe."

He paused to move toward a large map of Europe taped to a dry erase board leaning up against the flap walls of the tent. He pointed at a small black dot several kilometers from where they were currently stationed.

"We'd lose more men than we'd save," Phillips explained. "But I don't expect either of you to understand that because you're both chorus girls."

Steve and Jamie both fell silent at this. Yes, they understood. They understood that the Colonel was choosing to abandon not only Trent and Bucky, but also at least hundreds of other good men to whatever fate Hydra had in store for them.

"I think Jamie and I understand just fine," said Steve coolly.

"Well, then understand it somewhere else," he said, walking over to where several other military leaders were waiting for him to help plan their next attack on another Hydra base. "If I read the posters correctly, you two've got someplace to be in thirty minutes."

Neither Steve nor Jamie answered him right away. Instead, they both took a good hard look at the map before them. According to it, this American army encampment was at least thirty miles southwest of the Hydra division factory the Colonel had pointed out was where he believed all the men captured had been taken, hidden between a series of Austrian mountain ranges. They were both beyond grateful at that moment for the fact that serum had granted them nearly perfect eidetic memories.

"Yes, sir, Colonel," Jamie declared. She peeked a glance up at Steve, wondering if he was thinking what she was thinking. He gave her a single, discreetly curt nod. She nodded back. "We do."

And without another word, they marched out of the Colonel's tent, and began trekking their way back towards their own. Agent Carter seemed to guess what they were planning, and ran after them as they entered their shared tent.

"What do you both plan to do?" she asked incredulously as she watched them pull out two backpacks from underneath their sleeping cots and begin filling them with necessary provisions. "Walk to Austria?

"If that's what it takes," Steve curtly replied, not even looking at her as he filled his backpack.

"You two heard the Colonel," she went on. "They're both most likely dead."

"You don't know that for sure!" Jamie snipped, jamming her spiky crown back on her head as she spoke. "Actually, scratch that! I _know_ my big brother's still alive! I'd _feel_ it if Trent was gone! I'd _feel_ it!"

"Even so," Agent Carter pressed, "he's devising a strategy. If he detects—"

"By the time he's done that, it could be too late!" Steve snapped, grabbing a military hard hat. He clicked it into place on his head and threw his warm brown leather jacket on over his Captain America costume. He threw Jamie's smaller one to her, and she did the same, flinging it on over her Liberty Belle dress. She snatched up her torch and slipped on her mask as Steve grabbed his shield.

They both slung their backpacks on over their shoulders, and hurried back out into the rain.

"Steve! Jamie!" Agent Carter protested, rushing out after them.

They ignored her. Steve grabbed Jamie's hand, and dragged her behind him to a nearby deserted military jeep. He threw his shield and backpack into the backseat, and then turned and scooped up Jamie — girl, backpack, torch, and all — and plopped her into the backseat, too.

They turned to face Agent Carter. "You told us you thought we were meant for more than this," said Steve, looking at the woman of his deepest affections right in the eye as he spoke. "Did you mean that?"

"Every word," she replied at once.

"Then please," said Jamie, "let us go. You have to let us go."

Steve didn't wait to hear any sort of a reply. He just turned and hopped into the driver's seat of the jeep. As he started it up, however, Agent Carter rushed forward, stopping them.

"I can do more than that," she said. "Both of you follow me."

Wordlessly, Steve shut off the jeep, climbed out of the car, and scooped Jamie back out of the backseat, too, and set her back down on the ground before he grabbed his bag and shield. They followed her away from the main hustle and bustle of the campgrounds, and toward the area where all the military planes were kept.

"Wait here," she instructed them. "I'll be right back."

And indeed, they didn't have to wait long. She returned ten minutes later as soon as dusk set in, with Howard Stark in tow.

"Stark!" said Steve, in both greeting and surprise. "What're you doing here?"

"Helping you and Jamie, of course," he said. "This is one of my planes, after all. I'm gonna fly it."

"You're going to fly us to Austria?" said Jamie, her eyes sparkling as she momentarily forgot about Trent, Bucky, and all the other men trapped behind enemy lines, and instead became excited over the prospect of about to fly in a plane. Flying was one of her favorite things, after all. "That's awesome! Thank you, Howie!"

The adults glanced down at her when they heard what she'd called Howard.

"It's Howard, kid," said Howard.

"I know that!" Jamie said. "I just shortened it, and made it cuter!"

Despite the urgency of this secret mission, Steve grinned at his protégés' innocent statement, and Agent Carter lifted a hand to her face to hide a snicker.

Even Howard himself looked somewhat amused, but he was fighting to hide this and instead look annoyed, even though he really wasn't. "Men aren't supposed to have cute names," he told Jamie.

"Too bad! Howard's a nice name, but Howie is better!" she said with a firm sense of finality.

Howard stared. Steve just shrugged his shoulders and made a face that told him just to roll with it. With a shrug of his own shoulders and a baffled shake of his head, Howard patted her head.

"All right, fine. Call me Howie if you want."

"Yes!" Jamie cheered. "Now, are we gonna fly this thing or not? Trent and Bucky and all those other guys aren't just gonna rescue themselves, you know!"

The adults laughed, but nonetheless agreed with what she said, and they loaded themselves into the plane.

"Buckle in, everyone," Howard advised Steve, Jamie, and Agent Carter as he climbed into the cockpit of the plane. "Takeoffs can be a bit bumpy."

As soon as they were all strapped in, Howard started up the plane. The engines of the plane whirred as the propellers spun about. Thankfully, because of the cover of darkness, nobody noticed as the plane left the hanger, and eventually lifted off the ground.

Jamie couldn't help herself. As soon as they were up in the air, soaring high above the earth, she started to squeal with excitement.

"We're flying! We're flying!" she cheered, unbuckling her seatbelt as soon as it was safe and sitting up on her knees in her seat as she peered out the window behind her. "Look, Steve! Look! We're flying!"

Steve had the fight the urge to smile at her enthusiasm. Had this been any other time, he wouldn't think twice about it. He always liked seeing her get excited about such simple and little things and just being a kid. But he couldn't encourage that right now. He had to make sure she stayed focused on the task of sneaking into the Hydra base.

"Focus, Jamie," he gently reprimanded. "We're currently flying across the Austrian border and about to face off an entire legion of Hydra soldiers. You can't get distracted."

"Right, sorry," she said with a sheepish grin, sitting back down normally in her seat to listen to the plan. "It's just this is my first time riding in a plane. I got overexcited. I'm sorry. I'll pay attention now."

Agent Carter smiled to her before reaching into one of the inner pockets of her uniform, and taking out a folded up map of the Austrian mountain range. She quickly unfolded it, and spread it out on her lap so Steve and Jamie could both see it.

"The Hydra camp is in Krausberg, tucked between these two mountain ranges," she explained, pointing at the area as she spoke. "It's a factory of some kind."

"We should be able to drop you two right on the doorstep," Howard added, calling out from the cockpit.

Steve nodded gratefully. "Just get us as close as you can," he replied.

"Thank you for doing this," said Jamie suddenly. "I'm sure you're both gonna get in trouble with the Colonel once you land after you drop us off."

"And you two won't?" Agent Carter asked skeptically.

"Where we're going, if anybody yells at us, Jamie and I can just shoot them." Steve pointed out.

Jamie tensed at his words. She knew she'd been designed to be the perfect child-soldier, but did she really have to kill? She could just knock out the bad guys, couldn't she?

No, she would not kill. She would make it her policy not to kill. It would be weird to Steve, Agent Carter, Howard, Colonel Phillips, and everyone else once they found out, but she would be the first soldier to fight in a war without killing a single person. She could do it. She would do it.

"They will undoubtedly shoot back," said Agent Carter, bringing Jamie back to the current situation.

"Well," said Steve, tapping on his shield as he said his next words. "Let's hope it's good for something." He paused there, and glanced over at Jamie. "You know, it's not too late," he said. "I know you're worried about your brother and you want to help, but I'd really prefer it if you were to stay here in the plane and fly back with Stark and Peggy."

"No! I'm going with you!" Jamie snapped, folding her arms and scowling up at him. "I don't care how much you beg me! I'm going with you!"

Steve sighed but nodded begrudgingly, knowing there was no way he'd be able to talk her out of coming with him.

"Agent Carter?" Howard suddenly called out teasingly from the cockpit again. "If we're not in too much of a hurry, I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late-night fondue."

There was a brief silence in the plane as all three of the passengers contemplated what Stark had just asked Agent Carter. Agent Carter looked irritated by his question, and Steve seemed surprised, as well as slightly embarrassed. Jamie, however, had absolutely no idea what was going on, or what fondue even was.

"Stark is the best civilian pilot I've ever seen," said Agent Carter after several moments, trying to keep Steve and Jamie focused on the mission and not on the dinner date Howard had just offered. "He's mad enough to brave this airspace. We're lucky to have him."

Jamie just tilted her head to the side. Still a simple, innocent child, she had no idea what Steve was assuming, or what had even been implied.

Steve nodded to show he understood, but it was clear he was still thinking about what Howard had said. "So, are you two…" he said slowly, pointing back and forth a bit between Agent Carter and Howard. "Do you… fondue?"

"What is fondue?" asked Jamie innocently.

Agent Carter chose to ignore both their questions. Instead, she pulled out a small electronic device. "This is your transponder," she explained, handing it to Jamie. "Activate it when you're both ready, and the signal will lead us straight to you."

"Are you sure that that thing works?" Jamie asked curiously as she stuffed it into her pack.

"It's been tested more than either of you, kid," Howard joked. He opened his mouth to say more, but at that precise moment, a great force jolted the entire plane, and a series of bright lights lit up outside. Then the plane jolted a second time, and then a third. They were under fire.

Steve and Jamie quickly exchanged silent looks of agreement, and then seized hold of their torch and shield before leaping their feet.

"Get back here!" Agent Carter shouted as Steve grabbed a parachute and Jamie stuffed her torch into her backpack and rushed to force open the side hatch so that they could both jump out. "We're taking you two all the way in!"

Steve ignored her. He bent down, and motioned for Jamie climb onto his back. She readily complied, and leapt onto him.

"As soon as we're clear," Steve shouted in order to be heard over the roar of the wind as he strapped the parachute on over himself and Jamie. "You turn this thing around and get the hell out of here!"

"Swear word, Steve!" Jamie chided, hitting his shoulder to get his attention.

Agent Carter ignored her interruption. "You can't give me orders!" she retorted.

At this, Jamie grinned, and looked over at her. "Of course he can!" she said brightly as she clung tightly to the back of Steve's neck. "He's the Captain!"

Steve snickered at her words for a moment, and then he leaped from the plane with Jamie on his back.

As they fell through the air, Jamie couldn't help but feel exhilarated despite the rapid gunfire going on around her. The feeling of the wind whooshing through her hair as she fell from the sky… she loved it. The only thing that kept her from whooping in pure joy at the adrenaline rush was remembering the fact that she and Steve were currently in stealth mode, and she had to keep quiet and not scream in pure joy from the skydive.

They fell for almost thirty seconds before Steve spotted the trees down below growing closer and closer, and he pulled on the cloth latch to unfold the parachute. They floated calmly down even through the constant gunfire.

As they came down, their parachute got tangled up within the braches of several trees, and the two genetically altered super-soldiers hung suspended in midair a short way off the ground, unable to get free.

"Perfect," Steve muttered darkly, trying to wriggle his body enough to get himself and Jamie out. "Just perfect…"

"Wait, Cap! I have an idea!" Jamie exclaimed, twisting her body around as she struggled to pull her torch from pack. "Just hold still!"

Steve just nodded, not really sure what she was planning to do. Feeling him stop moving, Jamie twisted her body around as best as she could so she could face one of the straps that kept them connected to the parachute. Clicking the special button on her metallic toy, the sparklers erupted from its end, and she hovered them over the string to burn right through it. It took almost a full minute, but it worked, and they soon felt themselves fall several feet further down in the tree before being suspended in midair again due to the other string. She repeated the process, and they fell rather unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Oof!" Steve exclaimed as he landed.

"Captain, are you okay?" Jamie asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, just got the wind knocked out of me," he said, allowing Jamie to slide off his back before getting up and brushing himself off. "How about you?"

"No bones broken, I think," she answered.

"That was a good idea with the torch, Libby," he said. "A great idea, actually."

"Thanks, Cap!" Jamie beamed.

"Right. Now, let's go."

They took off together through the dark forest in the direction of the Hydra factory. They moved quickly, but still cautiously and silently, making sure to stick to the shadows as they went. They had no idea where they were in the mountain range, but in the likely event that they ran into a Hydra platoon while in the middle of a security sweep of the area, they'd much rather prefer to have the surprise on them rather that walk straight into them.

It wasn't long before they found themselves right at the entrance to the factory, but it didn't even really look like a factory, but more like a huge, formidable fortress. A towering chain link fence with several loops of barbed wire at the top surrounded the entire facility, and great, bright spotlights shined menacingly down across the nearby main entrance, its brilliant beams of light on the look out for any intruders. A team of Hydra guards flanked the entryway, and all of them were training their eyes into the forest for any type of sign of disturbance.

"How are we going to get in?" Jamie whispered. "We're bound to be spotted before we get anywhere near the place!"

Steve frowned as he silently pondered on what to do. She was right. The only way they'd be able to get into the factory would be disguised as a Hydra officer. But how could they do that?

Just at that moment, a low rumbling sound began to echo from further down the road. Steve and Jamie both spun around. There was a small convoy of trucks that were making their way down the road to the factory.

Steve smirked as an idea popped into his head. "Follow my lead!" he whispered, and he crept along the tree line in the direction of the approaching convoy.

"Hey, wait up!" Jamie hissed, tailing along after him.

They ran along behind the final truck in line, and silently leaped in past the tarp coverings into the trunk, greatly startling the two Hydra guards that had been lounging about lazily inside.

"Boys…" Jamie smirked beneath her mask as she twirled her torch.

The guards snapped out of their momentary shock and lunged at them, but Steve and Jamie were both more than ready for this. With silent kicks and punches, they successfully managed to knock them both out, and quickly threw them back out onto the road. And not a moment too soon, as the truck turned the corner on the road, and the factory was now in plain sight.

Steve and Jamie both kept dead silent as the truck pulled into the factory gates. One small sound, one peep from either of them, and every Hydra guard in the entire fortress would be pursuing them the second that they snuck out of the vehicle.

The truck soon came to a complete stop. Steve silently motioned for Jamie to get behind him, as he could hear another guard from outside approaching the truck. Jamie didn't hesitate to comply. She squatted down behind him just as the flap hiding them from the outside world opened. The Hydra guard just barely caught a glimpse of a red, white, and blue shield with three white stars at the top before being promptly punched with a powerful, knockout punch.

With the guard out of the way, Steve and Jamie cautiously climbed out from the back of the truck, and began stealthily making their way in the direction of several Hydra jeeps and tanks. They kept low as they ran, nearly crawling their way in between them in order to avoid attracting any attention, and they kept their ears sharp for the sound of approaching guards.

"What now?" Jamie whispered.

"Hang on, let me think," said Steve. He very carefully peered over the top of the tank they were currently hiding behind. The darkness that swept over the entire compound was broken only by the many searchlights towering above them, their luminous rays brighter than the sun itself as they slowly spun around, never staying in the same spot for more than a second as they continued looking about for intruders. From what he could tell from where he was standing, the main factory building was still quite some distance away, but if they could somehow sneak around between the searchlights on the next rotation and climb up to the roofs of one of the nearby buildings, it would certainly save them time from sneaking around behind these tanks and jeeps as they worried about dodging the constantly shifting lights.

"All right," said Steve after a moment. "Here's the plan. Do you see that tank over there by that building?" He pointed to the tank and building he was referring to.

Jamie nodded. "Yep."

"When I say 'now,' you run as fast as you can to it. Make sure you stay out of sight of the guards and moving searchlights. I'll have to wait to go after the next rotation of the lights. Stay in the shadows and keep hidden while you wait for me. Do no — I repeat — do not move away from that tank until I get there. Got it?"

"Got it," Jamie said, clutching her torch tightly in her hand.

"All right… ready… ready… Now!"

Jamie sprinted madly to the tank as the searchlight rolled past. For a moment, it looked as though she might not make it without accidentally revealing at least one small red boot to the lights, but then she ducked and rolled the rest of the way, safely keeping herself out of sight of the lights. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she hid herself in the shadows of the tank. That had been way too close.

She had to wait almost a full minute before the lights moved away again before Steve could run and join her.

"All right now, Jamie. Climb!" he quietly urged her as he hoisted her up the side of the tank before climbing up beside her.

"Climb? Where?" she whispered.

"Onto the roof," he answered. "We need to get to the main building. That's probably where they're holding all the prisoners."

"Oh," she said, nodding in confirmation.

It took them several minutes to safely cross the rooftops of the side buildings while they avoided the lights and stayed out of sight of the guards, but they soon managed to reach a hidden side entrance to the main building of the large factory. Landing catlike upon the ground, Steve and Jamie quietly crept up the small door. Steve moved to open it, but through the small pane of glass near the top of the door, he spied a guard on patrol.

"There's a guard on the other side," Steve whispered to Jamie, knowing full well she that she was much too small to see the guard through the glass window. "I'm gonna knock. When the door opens, be prepared to knock him out. Can you do that?"

Jamie silently nodded, a resolved expression on her face as she clutched her torch. Seeing that she was ready, Steve took a deep breath, and knocked twice on the door.

The door opened to reveal a rather confused guard. He clearly hadn't been expecting anyone to be coming. Without a moment's hesitation, Jamie clicked the button on her torch, and jammed the erupting sparklers toward his face. The guard yelped in pain as the sparklers burned his skin, and Jamie proceeded to whack him over the back of the head with the blunt end of her torch, effectively knocking him out cold.

"Nicely done," said Steve approvingly as he grabbed the guard by his ankles and dragged him outside in order not to draw attention from the guards inside the factory.

"Thanks," said Jamie as they slipped inside. She took a moment to shut the door behind them before joining him in ducking down behind a series of weapons crates for cover.

If they had thought the exterior of the factory had been busy, it was nothing compared to the interior. The entire factory was crawling with Hydra agents. At the opposite of the corridor they were in, many agents were either in the process of moving some other weapons crates to another area of the factory, or were simply lounging about since they believed that it was impossible for anyone to be able to sneak this far into the compound, but still allowed their eyes to lazily sweep the area. It certainly wasn't going to be easy for them to get around in here.

Tiptoeing between more of the weapons crates, Steve and Jamie hesitated at the edge of the great mountainous area of their cover as they waited for the nearby guard to look away from where he was currently gazing before they ran. It took a few moments, but another Hydra agent wheeling some of the weapons crates soon distracted him. Steve and Jamie took advantage of his momentary diversion, and quickly ran into the cover of several machines across the way.

The only communicating they did now was through a series of hand signals and motions, silently telling each other which way to go, or to quickly stop if one of them believed they had heard something or rather someone approaching. They could not afford to speak now. If they were to so much as whisper to one another and a guard strolling by happened to overhear them, they'd be captured immediately.

As they were squeezing their way out from the cover of some large, metallic cylinders, they suddenly found themselves standing next to a long, glowing table. Curiosity getting the better of them, Steve and Jamie crept up to it. On its surface, there was a vast number of small, glowing electric blue cartridges all scattered about.

"Strange," Jamie whispered. "What are these things, Steve?"

"I dunno," he muttered back, cramming one of the cartridges into his pocket as he spoke. "It looks like some kind of early prototype of a weapon, I think. I'm taking one with me. Stark will probably know if we show it to him."

She nodded to show she understood. "Let's keep going!" she said.

They slipped off carefully down the hall, both of them keeping one eye open for the sound of approaching guards, and the other for a clue on the whereabouts of where the cellblocks were.

It didn't take them all that long to find the holding cells of prisoners. Guarded by two Hydra agents, Steve and Jamie knocked them out easily. As Jamie struggled to unlatch the ring of keys from the belt loop of one of the guards, Steve approached the first cell of prisoners, who were all staring at the two of them with baffled expressions. Upon closer inspection, it appeared as though not all the prisoners were of the 107th infantry. The majority was, but there were soldiers from all sorts of legions.

"Who are you two supposed to be?" a dark-skinned man wearing the traditional American private's uniform asked Steve curiously.

Steve hesitated for half-a-second before replying to the question. "I'm… Captain America," he said, at last fully embracing his super-hero name.

"And I'm Liberty Belle!" piped Jamie, finally dislodging the keys from the waist of the Hydra agent and smiling cheerfully to the bewildered soldiers. She even gave them a short wave.

"I… beg your pardon?" said another private, this one wearing a red beret and his voiced laced with the hints of a British accent. He was the only one to wave back at her.

"We're here to save you!" she exclaimed, holding up the ring of keys.

The men stared at her and Steve. A French man stepped forward, and began saying something in his native tongue. Neither Steve or Jamie spoke a word of French though, and they puzzled over what he was saying.

The dark-skinned man quickly translated. "He says, 'Wow, I didn't realize the Colonel thought we were so expendable that he'd only send one man and a little pipsqueak here after us.'"

Hearing the translation, Jamie's face scrunched up into an irritable pout, and she clenched up her little fists. "Translate this back!" she ordered the dark-skinned man before turning back to the French man. "Rude ungratefulness!" she said at once. "Here the Captain and I have traveled over thirty miles to get here and have had to work very hard just to sneak into this factory to save you all, and you have the nerve to call me a pipsqueak! How ungrateful!"

The men just stared at her from what she's said as the dark-skinned man translated her message back to the French man. As the French man's stared at her upon hearing the translation of her words with his jaw dropped slightly like the other men around him, Steve really had to fight the urge to snicker. He supposed that to these men, who had never met Jamie before now and were completely unaware of her spunkiness that was generally hidden by her usually shy exterior and cheery little smile, she could be a little shocking on first meeting. Especially if she happened to be super annoyed or angry.

Hearing no response from the French man or any of the other captured soldiers, Jamie huffed. "Well, if you're all going to be just as ungrateful as him, the Captain and I don't have to let you out! You can all stay in these cells and we'll go home!" She turned and looked over at Steve. "Let's go, Captain!"

Steve really had to fight the urge to laugh now as she took his hand, and began dragging her behind him as she marched her way back to the door.

"No, no, no!" said another private quickly, rushing forward to the front so as to grip the bars of the cell as he spoke. This one had thick red hair that was all but hidden beneath his sleek black bowler hat, and a bushy red mustache. "We'd love to get out of these cells, thanks. Think you can unlock the gate, please, er — Liberty Belle?"

Jamie beamed. "Manners! That's all I wanted!"

And she skipped forward to the cell; ignoring the baffled looks she was still getting from all the men, and the amused one's she was still getting from Steve.

One by one, Steve and Jamie unlocked each cage door, allowing the prisoners to go free. Grateful to them but still rather confused as to who they were, the men slowly emerged from the cells.

"What, are we taking everybody?" asked the bowler hat private when he spotted Steve unlocking a cell with a Japanese man in it.

The Japanese man looked annoyed at the discrimination of his heritage due to the war with Japan, and threw the bowler hat private an irritable look as he fished his dog tags out from around his neck.

"I'm from Fresno, Ace!" the Japanese-American snapped.

Steve and Jamie paid this little exchange little mind. They were currently weaving up and down the lines of prisoners as they searched the faces in the crowd for any sign of Trent and Bucky.

"Is there anybody else?" said Steve. "I'm looking for a Sergeant James Barnes."

"And I'm looking for my big brother," said Jamie. "Sergeant Trenton Harper. He's in the 107th, but he wasn't captured with all of you guys who came in earlier. He got captured months ago. I need to know if he's alive or not!"

"There's an isolation ward in the factory, but no one's ever come back from it," said the man with the red beret. "We've all heard rumors that they've been keeping one soldier there for at least over two months now. Possibly longer, but we all thought it was just rumor. We're not sure if it's true or not."

"That could be him!" she said eagerly.

"All right," Steve called out as he addressed the long line standing before him. Jamie moved to stand next to him. "The tree line in northwest, eighty yards past the gate. Get out fast and give 'em hell. We'll meet you guys in the clearing with anybody else we find."

The soldiers all looked like they had questions, but before anyone could ask anything, Jamie promptly punched Steve's arm.

"Swear word, Captain!" she angrily admonished. "Geez, how many times today am I going to have to hit you so you remember not to swear?!"

This time, it was the men who chuckled and Steve who was embarrassed.

"You're taking the girl with you?" asked the Japanese-American as soon as the last bits of laughter died away. "I think she might be safer with us. She's just a little girl, after all."

"I'm not just any little girl!" said Jamie quickly, twirling her torch around as she spoke. "I'm Liberty Belle, the world's first genetically enhanced child super-soldier, and the one who just traveled thirty miles across the Austrian border to save you all! I didn't see any of you getting out of these cells on your own!"

The men were silent at her words. She was technically right.

"Well," the dark-skinned man said delicately, "are you both sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah," said Steve with nonchalant nod, motioning for Jamie to follow him. "I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times."

"And each time after I kicked him in the crotch!" Jamie added proudly.

And without another word, the super-soldier of the present and the child super-soldier of the future took off back down the hall in search of the isolation ward, leaving behind the stunned group of American soldiers staring after them in disbelief.

A few minutes after they ran off and left the freed soldiers, Steve and Jamie slowly began to hear the sounds of a major battle raging outside. The sounds of angry shouts as guns went off and tanks shot out great cannonballs of destruction.

"Sounds like they're all getting revenge on their jailers," Jamie told Steve. He patted her shoulder in reply as a bunch of Hydra guards jumped them.

The Hydra guards were hardly worth any effort taking down. The vast majority of the guards were all rushing outside to try and stop the mass breakout of prisoners that were unleashing havoc upon the factory. Steve and Jamie didn't have to worry about sneaking around the factory anymore. Instead, they ran freely as they searched wildly for any type of sign that could lead them in the direction of the isolation ward.

Whenever they accidentally ran across a large group of Hydra soldiers during their search, they worked together flawlessly, as the perfect team. Jamie would use her torch to burn the majority of them in order to get them to stumble back, and then proceed to bury them in a whirlwind of punches and kicks, while Steve would deflect their gunshots with his shield and whack the guns from their hands before sending them flying with his powerful fists. It was almost too easy for them to knock aside the massive platoons of men that attempted to surround them.

How could it not be? They were Captain America and Liberty Belle. The mentor and sidekick. The adult super-soldier of today, and the child super-soldier of the future. They were unstoppable.

They ran up a flight of stairs and emerged onto a catwalk overlooking the main room of the factory. Steve and Jamie zipped right across it, occasionally stopping to either kick or throw guards attempting to bar their way over the edge of the railing. They didn't have time for a proper fight with just one or two guards. Not when they were running out of time to hopefully find Trent and Bucky.

One guard tried to jump Steve while they were turning a corner. Steve tried to get his small pistol out from its holster, but the guard managed to get a lucky hit in, and Steve's pistol flew out of his hand and landed at Jamie's feet.

"Shoot him, Liberty! Quick!" Steve said as he tried to block the guard's punches.

But Jamie did not grab the gun. She would not use it. She would not take a human life, no matter what the circumstance was. Instead, she ran forward, and whacked the blunt end of her torch against the back of the Hydra agent's head. He fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Why didn't you shoot him?" Steve asked as he grabbed the gun off the ground replaced it in his holster. "I told you to shoot him."

"I know, Cap," she said.

"Then why didn't you do it?"

"I… I know I'm a soldier, sir," said Jamie meekly. "But I don't want to kill. And I did good, anyway, didn't I? I helped you. I didn't have to kill him."

"Liberty—"

"No, Captain. I don't care what you say. I'm not going to kill people. I'm going to be the first soldier that fought in a war that didn't kill a single person."

Steve frowned but nonetheless waved his hand so she'd keep following him. They'd discuss her no killing code when she was actually supposed to kill in war later, when they were not in a survival situation.

They veered off from the catwalk and took a right down a long hallway. As they ran, they suddenly spotted a short, potbellied man wearing a freshly pressed brown suit with a red bowtie and brown fedora hat rush out of one of room as he struggled to pull on a trench coat and juggle a particularly large briefcase that seemed to be stuffed to the brim with papers. The man abruptly froze when he caught sight of Steve and Jamie standing at the opposite end of the hall. They stared back at him. They personally had no idea who he was in Hydra, but he was seemingly terrified just looking at them. He turned and sprinted away as fast as he could.

Steve and Jamie paused for a moment, unsure of what they should do. The man didn't seem to be a soldier. If he had been, he would have charged at them, not run away, but he was still technically a member of Hydra. They couldn't just let him get away. They started to run after him, but as they passed by the open doorway to the room the man had come from, they caught wind of several loud groans of pain, and a rather hoarse coughing fit.

They nodded to one another. That man in the fedora hat wasn't worth it. Not when there were people either hurt or sick and trapped in the room next them. They let the man go and instead entered the room.

The room appeared to be some kind of medical facility, and in the exact center of the room, there were two fully-grown men, both of them clearly in a lot pain and belted down to metal stretchers by thick leather straps.

The first man seemed to be the same age as Steve, somewhere in his mid-twenties, and had a thick mass of wavy black hair and dark eyes. He was only semi-conscious, and mumbling words incoherently.

"Sergeant 32557038, Sergeant 32557038," he rambled over and over again.

The other young man was not only much thinner than his companion, but slightly younger as well, and looked more like a young teenager than an adult of nineteen. He had thickly matted dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, and his right leg was stretched out slightly in front of him as he coughed and wheezed loudly in his unconscious slumber. He was very sick, as his face was white as a sheet and stricken with great clobs of dirt. Unlike the first man, he'd been a prisoner here for many months, and the result of his longtime captivity was finally catching up with him.

Steve and Jamie recognized the two men at once.

"Bucky!"

"Trentie!"

The two of them ran to their sides at once.

"Bucky? Oh, my God," said Steve, taking in the young man he'd known since he was just a kid. He reached over and yanked apart the straps that connected his lifelong friend to the table.

It took a few moments for Bucky's eyes to shift back into focus, and when they at last cleared, he stared at Steve, not believing his eyes.

"Are you…?"

"It's me," said Steve with a nod and a small smile. "It's Steve."

"Steve? Steve!"

"Come on," said Steve, helping Bucky to sit up. As soon as he was upright again, Steve clapped his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were smaller," Bucky retorted.

Jamie, meanwhile, was trying to shake Trent awake.

"Trent! Trent! Wake up! Wake up! You can't die! I just found you again!"

Slowly, Trent coughed and moaned. He opened his eyes just barely, but then shut them again as he groaned in feverish tiredness.

"Goddammit… Must you rat fuckers always wake me up whenever you come in? Do whatever the hell you want, but let me sleep, goddammit!"

Jamie glared at his dirty language, and promptly bonked him on the head before removing her mask.

"Ow!" he shouted, his eyes snapping open as he jolted awake.

"Language!" she shrieked. "This is the first time I've seen you again in so many months, and the first words out of your mouth are an entire string of swear words?! Shame on you, Trent! Mom would've washed your mouth out with soap if she'd heard what you just said!"

Trent stared at the little girl standing in front of him, recognizing her voice anywhere even if he didn't actually recognize her.

" _Jamie?!"_

"The one and only! Though call me Liberty Belle, right now. I have a secret identity! Now, hold still! I gotta burn through these straps."

She clicked the special button on her torch. As the sparklers started to chew through the first leather strap, Trent started blubbering out words as he stared at the little girl claiming to be his kid sister.

"J-Jamie…? Liberty Belle…? What is…? How're you…? How did…? _What the hell are you doing here?"_ he finally said, almost shouting in his shock before letting out a long train of deep, throaty coughs.

"Swear word, Trent! And rescuing you, of course!" she said, lightly smacking his shoulder at the use of his offensive language before moving on to the second leather strap. "Though I must say, I'm somewhat offended. No 'I'm so happy to see you, Jamie!' or even 'Thank God, you're here, Jamie!' If I didn't know better, I'd say you want to stay a prisoner here in this factory! Thankfully for you, I'm not leaving here without you, so you're coming with me whether you like it or not! And again, call me Liberty Belle! I have to maintain my secret identity!"

She just finished burning through the second strap, and was about to grab his hand to help him sit up, when Trent spoke again.

"You… you think I'm not happy to see you?"

Jamie 'eeped!' loudly as Trent suddenly grabbed her, and pulled her down to his chest as he crushed her in a hug.

"I thought I was _never_ going to see you again, James…"

Jamie didn't move for a second when she heard her brother's old nickname for her, nor did she correct him when he did not call her Liberty Belle once again. Then she promptly flung herself into his embrace. She was entitled to have a moment with him despite the fact that they needed to leave immediately. It had been five months since she'd seen Trent face-to-face, and four months since she'd heard anything from him at all. Steve was kind and a great guy, but Trent was the one person in the world who could always make her feel safe. That there was nothing to fear.

She was with Trent. Her big brother. He'd always protect her.

"I've been so worried about you, Trentie," she lightly sobbed. "I knew you weren't replying to my letters, but I didn't know you captured! I would've come much sooner if I'd known!"

"Come sooner? Sis, as much as I'm glad to see you again, you shouldn't be here at all!" he insisted. "Do you even know what this place is? It's a Nazi science factory! They kill prisoners here if they act out of place! It's not safe for you to be here!"

"Don't worry about that, Trent. I'm genetically enhanced now! A child super-soldier! That's why you need to call me Liberty Belle! I'm a super hero!"

" _A what?!"_

"Look, I'll explain later! Right now, we gotta get out of here!"

She grabbed Trent's arm, and tried to hoist him up to his feet.

"Argh!" he shouted suddenly as he tried to stand.

"What's wrong?!" cried Jamie in alarm.

"My leg!" he groaned, slowly sitting back down on the stretcher. Jamie quickly peeked down at his legs. The fabric of the pants leg on his right leg was severed in the middle to reveal a very large, deep gash. By the signs of discoloration in the veins around the gash, he had a terrible infection. That was probably the reason why he was so sick now.

"Captain!" Jamie called out over her shoulder. "Captain, please help!"

"Hang on," Steve said as he threw Bucky's arm over his shoulder to help him walk.

"No, now!" she demanded. "I don't know what to do for my brother!"

Slowly, Steve helped Bucky limp over as he recovered his strength, and then he examined Trent's leg.

"Shit… that cut looks bad," he muttered, "and I'm not even going to get started on that infection…"

"Swear word!" said Jamie, but it was just out of force of habit this time. She was too worried about Trent to lightly smack Steve.

"Look, I'm no doctor. I don't know what to do for the infection, but we can least bandage the cut in the meantime."

He shrugged off his backpack, and started rummaging around in it for the roll of bandages he'd packed.

Trent stared at the unknown man in front of him. "Who're you?" he asked.

"Steve Rogers, but in accordance to your sister, Captain America," said Steve, giving the young man before him a curt nod as he started wrapping up his leg.

"Huh?"

"He's all right, Trent," said Bucky suddenly. "He's the one I was telling you about. You know, the friend?"

"You mean he's _that_ Steve Rogers? Your skinny friend from Brooklyn? He's doesn't look very small or skinny to me, but then again, I'm standing next to a little girl who's claiming she's my little sister and yet doesn't look at all like her. This could all just be some strange, delusional dream from the those drugs they've been giving us…"

"No Trent, this isn't a dream, it's real!" said Jamie. "And I told you! I've been genetically enhanced to be a child super-soldier! Steve's the same! He's been biologically changed as an adult super-soldier!"

"What?"

"It's a long story," said Steve. He didn't get a chance to add more, as Bucky was now taking a good long look at Jamie.

"So, Trent," he said, sizing up Jamie in her Liberty Belle costume from head-to-toe. "I'm assuming this little girl is the sister you told me about? The one who so happens to be lucky enough to share my first name?"

"I'm Jamie," she said, holding out her hand. He promptly shook it. "Jamie Elizabeth Harper, otherwise known as the Girl Wonder called Liberty Belle. Trent's little sister. Only he's allowed to call me James. Steve's told me a lot about you."

"All good things, I hope."

"Of course!" she said. She paused, and then suddenly looked suspicious. "Why? Has Trent been telling you bad things about me?"

Bucky smirked. "The fact that you're absolutely terrified of the evil witch in _Snow White_ may have come up once or twice," he said smugly.

Jamie glared at her brother, and bopped him on the head a second time.

"Ow!"

"As soon as we get out of here, you and I are going to have a long talk on not sharing private information about me to total strangers!" she snipped.

"Yes, ma'am…" Trent muttered, rubbing the spot on his skull where she'd hit him.

"All right, just about done," said Steve as he tied the knot on the bandage. "Let's get going."

"Wait!" Trent said suddenly.

"Trent, we _need_ to go!"

"No, listen Jamie—"

"It's _Liberty Belle!"_

"Fine, Liberty Belle, we can't go yet. They took Dad's pocket watch."

" _What?!"_

"When they caught me a couple months ago, I had Dad's pocket watch on me. Remember, I told you that it'd keep me safe? They took it from me when they frisked me. Threw it in there, I think…"

He pointed to a small room off to the side with a large, clear window overlooking the room they were all currently standing in.

Jamie scrambled to the doorway leading inside it.

"Liberty! We have to _go!"_ Steve admonished, following in after her.

"I have to find that watch!" she snapped, scrambling to open the door. "It's a family heirloom in our family! The way I have Pannie from our Dad, Trent has Dad's pocket watch! Just give me five minutes to look for it. Five minutes, and then we can… go…"

She and Steve fell silent when they saw the back wall of this tiny room. There was a large map on the wall. A map depicting all of Europe, and scattered across it were six small black triangles.

Steve and Jamie couldn't believe their eyes. They had just discovered a map depicting the locations of six other Hydra factories. Thank God they now had eidetic memories.

"You have three minutes," said Steve, not daring to tear his eyes away from the map as he spoke. "Three minutes to find the watch, but then we have to go. I'll memorize the map."

Jamie nodded, and began scrambling to search through the drawers to the desk in the corner. It wasn't in there. She checked the shelves. Nothing.

It wasn't until she started rummaging through the drawers of the nearby filing cabinet that she found it. Her father's silver antique pocket watch, its chain lying in a jumbled mess underneath a few folders.

"Got it!" she shouted, seizing it out from the drawer. She and Steve rushed back out of the room. She tossed it over to Trent.

"I thought it lost for good…" he mumbled, jamming the antique device into the back pocket of his pants.

"Just goes to show Dad really is smiling down on us," said Jamie, hugging Trent tightly. "Him and Mom."

Trent kissed the top of her head in response. She smiled.

"All right," said Steve. "If there's no more delays, let's get going! Come on!"

Jamie nodded, and promptly threw her weight against Trent's side so as to act as a crutch for him, and the two reunited siblings followed Steve and Bucky out the door, and back into the main corridor.

"What happened to you? Both of you?" asked Bucky as the four of them made their way back down the hall. His voice was croaking a bit from lack of water as he stared back and forth between man he'd known all his life to be no bigger than a toothpick, and the little girl behind him who looked more than capable of breaking his arm if she tried."

"We joined the army," said Steve with a shrug.

"Remind me when we get out of here and this is all over to have a long talk with whichever asshole let that happen," Trent said.

Jamie smacked his side. "Don't swear, Trent! Geez!"

"I'm serious! He's going to have a field day when I lay it straight with him for letting my little sister put herself in danger like this!"

"You can't," Steve called out over his shoulder. "He's dead."

"Well, then remind me when we get back to kill the bastard that killed him."

"Swear word again!" Jamie chastised. "And you can't do that either. He's dead, too."

"Well, did it hurt?" said Bucky, slowly pushing himself away from Steve and trying to walk on his own.

"A little," Steve lied. There was no point in telling Bucky and Trent how much the experiment that had changed him and Jamie had actually hurt.

"Please, tell me it isn't permanent?" said Trent, glancing down expectantly at Jamie at his side.

"Seems to be so far," she replied.

As they emerged out onto the catwalk, a great number of explosions shook the entire buildings. A series of bombs had been set up across the main floor of the factory, and they were now going off together in rapid succession. Red-hot flames and great billowing clouds of smoke rose up from each explosion, and slowly began to spread across the main level of the building.

"This way!" Steve yelled, motioning for the other three to follow him up a nearby narrow set of steel stairs to the upper balconies of the factory. Bucky ran up behind him straight away, but Jamie had a difficult time maneuvering her way up the steps while acting as a crutch for Trent.

"You go on ahead!" said Trent, trying to break away from his little sister's grip and lean on the railing of the stairs instead for support. "I can manage on my own."

"No! I won't leave you behind!" Jamie snapped. She grabbed one of his hands, and began yanking him up a few more steps.

They caught up to Steve and Bucky at the top, clearing waiting for them, and then they all proceeded up another long flight of steel stairs. The four began running down the topmost catwalk, but they came to a halt when they heard an unexpected voice call out to them.

"Captain America, and the ever lovely Liberty Belle!"

Steve, Jamie, Trent, and Bucky all looked across the way to the catwalk on the opposite end of the factory. On the other end of the catwalk, the small potbellied man with the fedora hat that Steve and Jamie had seen in the hallways earlier was standing behind a very tall man in a rather sleek black trench coat. He had light brown hair, and piercingly beady eyes. On each of the upper arms of the sleeves of the coat were red Hydra symbols. He was grinning rather maliciously at Steve and Jamie, seemingly amused to see them here.

They didn't need to hear the man introduce himself. Steve and Jamie knew instinctively who this evil man was within seconds. Johann Schmidt. This man was the leader of Hydra, and the one who'd been responsible for Doctor Erskine's assassination.

Jamie fought the urge to hide away slightly behind Steve, or even Trent. She was beyond terrified of the man in front of her, but still, she kept her face neutral, and stood tall and strong beside Steve. She would not grant Schmidt the honor of knowing he scared her. She was Liberty Belle. The world's first and only child super-soldier. She would be brave in the face of this danger.

"How exciting!" Schmidt went on after a moment, lazily strolling his way down the catwalk in order to get a better look at Steve, the adult super-soldier of the war, and Jamie, the child super-soldier of the future. "I am a great fan of your films!"

Very cautiously, Steve and Jamie also began making their way down the catwalk, much to the surprise of Trent and Bucky. Although the man before them was evil to the very core, they had to admit that they were somewhat curious about him. He was, after all, the only other being on earth that had also been transformed into a superior being thanks to Erskine's formula.

"So," Schmidt went on, pausing momentarily to look at the young man and the little girl standing before him from top to bottom. "Doctor Erskine managed it after all. Not exactly improvements, but still… impressive."

Anger raged throughout Steve and Jamie's bodies at Schmidt's words, and Steve quickly threw a punch right in the face at the Nazi.

"You've got no idea," he hissed.

"We're better in ways you can't even imagine!" Jamie mocked.

Schmidt only grinned. "Haven't I?" he retorted, and threw a punch of his own back at Steve.

Steve raised his shield, and Schmidt's fist landed a huge dent right into the metal. Jamie rushed forward, the sparklers on her torch burning brightly, and tried to jab them into Schmidt's side, but Schmidt expertly parried her attack and shoved her backward. She landed on the catwalk with a small 'oof!' As she got back up again, Steve tried to take his pistol out from his holster, but Schmidt caught wind of his subtle action, and whacked the gun right out of his hand. The metallic weapon went flying over the very edge of the catwalk, and fell right into the flaming abyss far below.

Steve and Jamie both glared spitefully at Schmidt, and they were about to charge forward to engage him in a second round, but at that precise moment, the catwalks suddenly disconnected from one another. The side that they were on was moving backward toward Trent and Bucky, who'd been watching all of this occur with equally shocked expressions as they marveled at Steve and Jamie's newfound strength, and the side that Schmidt was standing on was moving back toward the tiny man in the fedora hat on the opposite side. Then they realized that the man was clutching a lever. He had no doubt yanked it in order to stop the fight.

Schmidt threw Steve and Jamie a dirty look as he regained his bearings.

"No matter what lies Erskine told you two," he called out to them across the length of the factory, "you see, I was his greatest success!"

He raised one of his hands towards the edge of his neck, and began tugging abruptly on his skin. The four members of the quartet were completely taken aback by this, but they no time to ponder on it, as within seconds, they realized he was removing a mask of his own. A synthetic mask, designed to disguise his face to appear as normal, peachy colored skin. He threw the piece of rubber over the edge of the catwalk, and it floated down into the raging inferno's as he allowed the two super-soldiers before him to take a good, hard look at his true face.

Instead of having regular, peachy-colored skin and the brown hair provided by the mask, he was entirely bald, and the bones on his face jutted out in every direction, almost as though it were his skull he had truly exposed before them and not his actual face, and his skin… Every inch of the skin on his head was deep red. Red as blood.

"Holy shit…" Trent whispered.

"You two don't have one of those, do you?" said Bucky cautiously.

The two of them were unable to look at anything other than the exposed red face of the Red Skull.

Bucky did not receive a reply, because the moment Jamie had seen the true face of the super villain, she'd screamed in utmost horror, and flung herself behind Steve to hide. She was terrified, and no longer cared what was thought of her as Liberty Belle as a hero. She did not want to look at that terrifying, horrible face. Steve did not say anything to her, nor did he glance behind him to see if she was okay. He himself was horrified and in slight shock of Schmidt's true face.

The Red Skull laughed at Jamie's utter terror.

"Ignorant child," he sneered. "I don't know what Erskine was thinking when he created you. War is no place for sniveling children."

Jamie said nothing, but spared a small peek out from around Steve. Steve kept his stance firm and defensive. He would protect his young sidekick from Schmidt with his life.

"You are both deluded, Captain, Liberty," the Red Skull went on. "You both pretend to be simple soldiers, but in reality, you two are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind! Unlike you two," he continued, following the little man toward a small elevator off to the side of the catwalk. "I embrace it proudly! Without fear!"

"Then how come you're running?" Steve shouted.

The Red Skull ignored the question, and just clicked the button that made the elevator's doors slide shut.

Jamie growled. She shouldn't have hidden away when she'd seen the Red Skull expose his true face. She should have been brave and just stared, not screamed and hide cowardly behind Steve. She so badly wanted to go after him and reclaim her honor, but at that moment, another explosion rocketed the building, and fiery fireballs and greats chunks of metal rained down from the ceiling. She shook away her thoughts of chasing after the Red Skull. She and Steve would get another chance to fight him. For now, they had to get out of here and live to see tomorrow.

"Come on, let's go!" Steve called, leading the group up another stairwell to the highest catwalk in the factory. "Up!" Wordlessly, Jamie, Trent, and Bucky all ran up after him.

He led them up the stairs, and to a somewhat wide, but still rather rickety beam that connected their catwalk to the catwalk on the other end.

"Let's go, one at a time!" said Steve.

"Trent first!" said Jamie. "He's sick and injured!"

"No, Jamie!" said Trent. "No, _you_ go first!"

"I'll be fine, Trent! Don't worry!" she said. "I'm genetically enhanced now, remember? Now, go!"

Not letting him debate with her, she promptly grabbed his uninjured leg, and swung it over the edge of the railing and onto the beam. Trent looked somewhat conflicted, but nonetheless swung the rest of his body over the edge of the railing, too. Very, very cautiously, he held out both of his arms to balance himself, and took a few hesitant steps onto the metal beam. He very carefully made his way across the beam, and eventually made it safely to the other end.

"All right, Bucky! You next!" said Steve.

"Let me take the girl with me!" said Bucky, reaching down to scoop up Jamie, but Jamie deftly swatted his arms away.

"No way!" she said at once. "I mean, look at that thing! It can't hold the weight of two people at once! It'd crumble before we're even halfway across!"

"Then you go next!" he insisted.

Again, Jamie shook her head. "No. Again, I have super-soldier abilities just like Steve on my side. Should something happen, I'll have a much better chance with him to get out of here than you would."

Bucky seemed to think this over for a few moments before finally nodding at her logic. He carefully climbed over the railing, and stepped warily out onto the support beam. He went a little faster across it than Trent had since he was not sick and did not have a wounded leg to slow him down. Perhaps even a little too fast, as the beam was growing steadily weaker and weaker due to his constantly shifting weight. As he was nearly across, there was a very loud _clunk,_ and the metal of the beam began to give way. Terrified, Bucky leapt forward, and seized hold of Trent's hand on the other catwalk mere seconds before the beam broke apart, and fell down into the great, flaming inferno down below. With Trent's help, Bucky hoisted himself up, and stood climbed over to the safety on the other side of the railing.

Steve and Jamie exchanged worried looks. They were now effectively trapped on their catwalk without any means to get across.

"There's gotta be a rope or — or something!" yelled Trent, looking around anxiously for something to swing across to Steve and Jamie.

"Just go!" shouted Steve. "Both of you! Get out of here!"

"I love you, Trent!" screamed Jamie. "Go! Be safe!"

"No!" yelled Bucky, looking directly at Steve as he did. "Not without you!"

"I won't leave you here, Jamie!" shouted Trent.

"Hell," Steve muttered as he looked around anxiously for what he could do to get himself and Jamie to the other side. He looked down at the railing, and an idea sprung into his head. He began tearing and bending away the metal.

"W-what're you doing?" said Jamie, too scared about the current circumstances to comment on his swearing.

"Just get on my back and hold on tight!" he ordered, bending down to her level. "We're going to have to make a jump for it!"

Jamie nodded, and hopped up onto his back and held on as tight as she could, considering she had to hold onto him and her torch at the same time. As soon as he deemed her to be holding onto him tight enough, Steve stood back up, and began to back away a bit from the gap in the railing. Jamie squeezed his neck tighter and closed her eyes. She was very, very scared.

Steve took a deep, self-assuring breath, and glanced up at Trent and Bucky across the way. They too were holding their breath, and praying hard for this to work.

And then, Steve dashed forward to the gap, and leaped as hard and as far as he could into the air and across the way.

* * *

Agent Carter stood solemnly in Colonel Phillips tent, not wanting to clear her throat and get his attention. It was just after dawn, and all night, she had waited for Steve and Jamie to activate the transponder she'd given them to call for evacuation, but the signal never came.

"Senator Brandt," said Phillips, saying what he wanted the soldier who was currently typing the letter to the Senator in his typewriter to write in the letter. "I regret to report that Captain Steven G. Rogers and ten-year-old Jamie E. Harper went missing behind enemy lines on November third. Aerial reconnaissance has proven unfruitful. As a result, I must declare Captain Rogers and young Harper killed in action. Period."

Agent Carter sighed, and discreetly coughed. The Colonel turned.

"The last surveillance flight is back," she said simply. "No sign of activity."

The Colonel turned to the man behind the typewriter. "Go get a cup of coffee, Corporal," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," he said, and quickly left the tent.

As soon as he was gone, Colonel Phillips rounded on the woman. "I can't touch Stark," he said angrily. "He's rich and he's the army's number one weapons contractor. You are neither one."

"With respect, sir," she said carefully. "I don't regret my actions, and I don't think Captain Rogers or little Jamie did, either."

"What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions?" said Phillips. "I took a chance with you, Agent Carter. And now America's Golden Boy, Wonder Girl, and a lot of other good men are dead 'cause you had a crush."

"It wasn't that," she defended herself. "I had faith."

Phillips wasn't pleased by her response. "Well, I hope that's a big comfort to you when they shut this division down."

Agent Carter fought to keep her face neutral. He'd all but just told her that she was going to be dishonorably discharged from the army.

Phillips opened his mouth to say more, but a great number of shouts from some soldiers outside caught his and Agent Carter's ears, and they both turned in the direction of the yells. Men were running toward the main entrance to the camp.

"What the hell's going on out there?" he muttered, quickly walking in the direction all the men were rushing toward. Agent Carter followed. She, too, was curious to know what was going on.

Men were gathering at the main gate to the camp, and some were wearing shocked expressions as to what they were seeing, but others, like the Colonel and Agent Carter, had no idea what was going on, and only headed over in order to see what all the commotion was. Within seconds, their faces mirrored the one's who were staring dumbfounded at the pathway leading up to the main entrance.

Steven Grant Rogers and Jamie Elizabeth Harper were leading a long procession of survivors from the Hydra factory behind them as they marched right up to the American campgrounds with Sergeants James Barnes and Trenton Harper at their heels.

"Look who it is!" shouted someone up front.

Immediately, the entire camp was in an uproar as a couple men lunged forward to open the gate and let everyone in. Men who'd still been sleeping soundly up until then were shaken awake by their tentmates, and sleepily dragged out of their tents to see the extraordinary sight as well as welcome back Steve, Jamie, and all the other men who had been held captive in the Hydra weapon's facility. The survivors weren't the only things that Steve and Jamie were leading into the camp, either. The men were carrying vast amounts of Hydra weaponry, driving Hydra tanks, and there were even some carrying some supplies that they had manage to scavenge from the factory before the whole place exploded. On and on the line of survivors came. There didn't seem to be an end to them.

The men in camp quickly parted on either end of the main pathway as Steve and Jamie led everyone into the camp, and began applauding and congratulating them all. Jamie took notice of this. She just clutched her little torch in one hand, and Steve's hand in her other. She was worried about what might happen next. She and Steve had to find Colonel Phillips and surrender themselves for punishment for running off across the Austrian border without permission.

It didn't take long to find the Colonel. He was marching right toward them from the main area of the camp alongside Agent Carter. His face was completely devoid of emotion, and it left Steve and Jamie wondering if he was trying to hide an absolutely furious expression.

They came to a halt before the superior officer, and Jamie had to let go of Steve's hand so they could both salute him out of respect.

"Many of these men need to see doctors," Jamie respectfully told him. "My big brother especially."

The Colonel glanced down at Trent's leg. It was a bit swollen from the long trek from Austria back to Italy.

"We'd also like to surrender ourselves for disciplinary action," Steve promptly added.

There was a long pause as the Colonel stared at the two super-soldiers.

"That won't be necessary," he said at last.

Steve nodded. "Yes, sir," he said.

The Colonel turned to look at Agent Carter.

"Faith, huh?" he asked. He didn't wait for a reply. He just vanished into the gathering crowd.

Agent Carter stared after him for a moment, and then stepped forward to speak to Steve and Jamie.

"You're late," she stated, though it was very obvious she was trying to mask her apparent joy at seeing them both alive and well before her.

Jamie just giggled, and reached into her backpack to reveal the transponder she'd given them the night before. Its antenna was snapped in half, held together by only a couple of wires.

"We couldn't call our ride," she sheepishly explained.

Agent Carter smiled and patted her shoulder, and then looked up to smile at Steve.

"Hey!" shouted Bucky suddenly. The three glanced over at him as the crowd quieted down to hear what he had to say. "Let's hear it for Captain America!"

"And Liberty Belle!" Trent added proudly.

The men crowded around began to whoop and cheer as they vigorously applauded the brave young man and little girl who had single-handedly risked their lives to rescue over four hundred men all together in the Hydra weapons factory.

Jamie blushed shyly, and tried to bury her face into Steve's jacket to avoid the cheering faces. All her life, even before she'd gone to stay in the orphanage, she'd always been considered a bit strange. Never before had she been recognized like this if she wasn't singing or dancing on stage in her elementary school drama club, or singing and dancing the Captain America and Liberty Belle theme song while on the USO tour.

Steve wouldn't let her hide herself, though. Instead, he dropped his shield, and literally scooped Jamie up in his arms so she could see and fully enjoy this. She 'eeped!' a bit, but it was drowned out when the crowd cheered harder than ever when they got a better look at her.

Jamie blushed harder than ever at the attention.

"Hard to believe these men were throwing those tomatoes at us yesterday afternoon, huh?" Steve whispered.

Jamie shyly. "No kidding," she said nervously. "I guess we've finally got their respect."

"That we have, Jamie," Steve agreed with a nod. "That we have…"


	7. London

**IMPORTANT AU NOTE! PLEASE READ!**

 **Boy, am I tired! It is currently 1:30 in the morning as I'm posting this, and I'm completely wiped out! I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter, because it quite possibly might be the last update for awhile. Come next chapter, the story will deviate a bit from the movie, and because it will be original ideas, I won't be able to use the movie as a reference, so it might take a while to write.**

 **You know what I'm talking about, ZabuzasGirl. That _thing_ I told you about? It happens in the next chapter. I was going to add it to the end of this chapter, but the chapter was already running a bit long. I'm sorry about that.**

 **As always, let me thanks my reviewers:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My Greatest Fan!)**

 **\- LITTLE RED FOXX**

 **Please, people, review! I love reviews! They make my day! Make my day and review! Pretty please?**

 **Disclaimer for story is in chapter two.**

 **Please, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: London**

Jamie wandered down the halls of the American military base in London, her pigtails bopping along in rhythm with her steps as she walked, and she kept her nose firmly planted in her new book, _Norse Gods: Real or Not Real?_

As she walked, there were many times she almost unknowingly walked into people due to her not paying attention to her surroundings, and people had to jump out of her way. The military personnel were somewhat irritated by the ten-year-old girl's obliviousness to the world, but they couldn't say anything about it to her. They were simply secretaries, and she was their superior officer, a First Lieutenant, third in rank after Colonel Chester Phillips and the newly ranked Captain Steven Rogers.

When Jamie had initially received the news of her new rank in the army, she had been somewhat disappointed. She'd done just as much as Steve while in the Hydra factory, but he was given a higher ranking than her. She may have just been a kid, but she felt she was entitled to be slightly offended by that. Still, the Colonel was already pulling enough strings just to allow her, a little ten-year-old girl, to be allowed to fight in the army. He had the power to do that, but he put his foot down on giving Jamie too much leeway over directing troops. She may be a genetically enhanced child super-soldier, but she was still technically a child. He could not give Jamie the same ranking of Captain to her as he had to Steve, so he made her Steve's Lieutenant instead.

She actually really liked the new uniform she was currently wearing as she flipped the page in her book, looking up for only half-a-second to make sure she was still walking in the direction of the main room of the base before continuing her readings about the Norse God, Thor, and his mystical hammer of Mjolnir. She wore a dark brown blazer similar to what Agent Carter always wore with the silver bar of her ranking sewn on the front, and a matching knee-length brown skirt. The only main difference between her tiny uniform and the standard Lieutenant uniform that the other women in the army wore apart from its obvious difference in size was that she wore a pair of black flats instead of a set of heels because of her age.

She was currently looking for Steve to show off her new book to him, having just gotten back from walking to the bookstore on the corner. She wanted to hear what he had to say on her newfound topic of interest.

As she'd guessed, she found him in the main room of the base, sifting over a large map of Europe as he jotted down the coordinates to the locations of the Hydra factories they'd both seen on the map back at the Hydra base. She shut her new book with a snap when she found them.

"Steve! Agent Carter!" she called cheerily, running into the room so as to properly greet them.

Her mentor and said woman looked up, very much surprised to see her.

"J.J.!" said Steve, his eyes wide. "What're you doing here? Don't you have lessons with your private tutor today?"

"I talked my way into letting him give me a hour-an-a-half break," she replied with a smile. "I just got back from the bookstore down the street. Look what I bought!" she held up the book on Norse God's for them to see.

" _Norse Gods: Real or Not Real?"_ Steve read. "Looks interesting, but why'd you buy that? I'd have thought you'd want to get something more generated towards kids. You like _The Wizard of Oz,_ after all."

"I only had so much money," she explained. "And remember what Doctor Erskine said? That the Red Skull is focused on trying to make himself on par with Norse Gods? I thought it'd be good to try and see what makes him tick! So far, all I've found out is that the Red Skull is totally crazy! This one God, Thor? He's the God of Thunder! He wields this big mighty hammer called Mjolnir and makes lightning shoot out of it, and he's the first in line to rule the mystical land of Asgard since his Dad's Odin, and Odin's the All-Father of all of Asgard! He has a half-brother called Loki, The God of Mischief, and he was adopted by Odin from the Frost Giants! It's all so, so cool!"

"It certainly does sound cool," Steve agreed, gently patting her head.

"Even though I bought it to try and get in the Red Skull's head, I have to admit that I really am genuinely interested in these Norse God's!" she exclaimed. "If they were really real, they'd be super hero's like us, Steve! Though I must say, if the Red Skull thinks he's just like them, he's more insane than I thought he was!"

"Oh, he is," Steve agreed at once. "He most definitely is."

"Anyway, what are you and Agent Carter doing?"

"Steve was just telling us about that map you two saw back in the factory," Agent Carter explained. "He was trying to remember all the points on it and marking them down on our maps."

"Oh! I can help! I saw that map, too, you know!"

She set down her book on the edge of the table, and peered over the large map splayed out in front of her as Steve continued reeling off the places they'd seen on the Hydra map as he marked them down on the map here at the American base.

"The fifth one was here in Poland, right near the Baltic," he muttered, taking a pen and making an 'X' on the map. "And… the sixth one was…"

"The sixth one was over here!" Jamie chimed in. She took the pen away from Steve and jotted an 'X' of her own onto the map. "I'd say about… thirty or forty miles west of the Maginot Line."

"Thank you, Jamie," said Steve, ruffling her hair in appreciation as a nearby army official took the map away now that the last factory had been added in, and began adding them onto the large official map in the exact center of the room. She beamed up at him as he turned back to face Agent Carter. "We just got a quick look." He made sure to state.

She shrugged, but nonetheless smiled to the new Captain and new Lieutenant. "Well, nobody's perfect," she said.

Steve and Jamie smiled at her, and were about to follow her away from the table, when Howard strolled up to them.

"Hi, Howie!" said Jamie pleasantly.

"Hey," he said with a raised brow. "Aren't you and the Captain here supposed to be picking up a couple of medals right now?"

He was technically right. When Senator Brandt had learned about Steve and Jamie's heroic rescue of four hundred Allied soldiers from the Hydra weapons factory in Austria, he had successfully petitioned for Captain America and Liberty Belle to both receive the Medals of Valor. They were both supposed to have only come to London for two days to make notes on the location of the other Hydra factories before hightailing it Washington D.C. to attend the award ceremony. However, Senator Brandt's assistant was the only one out of the party to board the steamship yesterday that was bound back home to America. Steve and Jamie had decided to stay in London, and help with the war, and because Jamie was staying, her tutor had to stay, too.

"Jamie and I have both decided we're officially off the press circuit," Steve calmly answered.

"That's right!" Jamie chirped with a happy smile as Colonel Phillips came walking up to the group with his hands clasped behind his back. "Steve and I are going to stay! We want to help the SSR stop the Red Skull, and all of Hydra!"

The Colonel frowned. "Rogers, Harper, you two just embarrassed the United States Senator in front of a room full of reporters and ten members of Parliament."

Steve and Jamie both grimaced. They hadn't thought about that when they decided not to return to America and attend the award ceremony.

Colonel Phillips went on, actually smiling this time as he tried to fight back a laugh. "You two deserve medals just for that!"

He pulled his arms out from behind his back, revealing two sleek black cases with the gold and shiny medals inside, and handed them over to Steve and Jamie.

"Steve, we really should make a phone call later on and apologize to Senator Brandt," Jamie said. "I know we decided to stay here and help with the war, but he was nice to us these past couple months and we really shouldn't have embarrassed him like that!"

"Yeah, you're right, J.J.," Steve agreed. "I'll find a phone later and formally apologize."

"Good."

The Colonel turned to face Howard, and glanced down at the small blue cartridge in his hands. It was the same one that Steve swiped while he and Jamie had infiltrated the Hydra factory. "You figure out what that is, yet?" he asked.

"Well," said Howard, holding up the cartridge as he spoke. "If you believe Rogers and little Jamie here, it's the most powerful explosive known to man."

"If?" said Steve, puzzled.

"Well either you and Jamie are wrong," said Howard slowly, "or Schmidt's rewritten the laws of physics."

"Or it's being powered by the Tesseract."

All three adults glanced down at Jamie, not knowing at all what it was she just suggested.

"What?" said Colonel Phillips.

"Doctor Erskine told me and Steve that Schmidt thinks he's just as powerful as Norse Gods, that's why I went out and bought this book today." She held up the book to show it to him and Howard. "I just wanted to know about what types of Gods he's comparing himself to, but this book also talks about this really interesting artifact that was lost on earth years and years ago. Take a look for yourselves."

She flipped through the pages of the book to find the page she was looking for, and then passed the book up to Phillips. All four adults crowded around to see. According to the book, the Tesseract was an ancient remnant of the Norse Gods, otherwise known as Asguardians, which according to legend, had been lost on earth many millennia ago. It was one of six singularities — the other five were not mentioned — that were each forged when the universe came into existence. It had been used in olden days by various civilizations over the years before being deemed lost on earth long ago.

"The book says that it's a Cosmic Cube of immense power," Jamie went on once the Colonel gave her back her book. "What if the Red Skull actually found it? It makes sense, don't you think? All those weapons that Hydra develops? What if they're all being powered by the Tesseract? It makes perfect sense!"

"It's just a legend, Harper," said the Colonel firmly. "I highly doubt that that's the case."

Jamie pouted and stuck out her lip a little bit, but held her tongue. Colonel Phillips was her commanding officer. She could not argue with him. The only reason she even got away with screaming at him a couple days ago before she and Steve took off to the Hydra factory was because the Colonel was willing to forgive her due to the fact that she was just a child and had just been told that the army hadn't been able to find her to inform her of Trent's disappearance. That was a one-time deal, though. If she wanted to be respected as a child super-soldier, she'd have to act mature.

"Yes, sir," she said with a sad nod.

The adults smiled. They were pleased to see that she wasn't going to push the issue. Steve motioned for Phillips to follow him and Jamie over to the large map in the center of the room, as the private from before had finished copying the tiny chart he and Jamie had marked the places for the Hydra factories onto it.

"These are the Hydra factories that we know about," he explained as Howard walked off. "Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Harper said that Hydra shipped all the parts to another facility that isn't on this map."

"They also talked about something called _Valkyrie,"_ Jamie added. "They mentioned that it's some type of highly advanced aircraft that Hydra's been busy constructing."

Colonel Phillips nodded in understanding and turned to face Agent Carter.

"Agent Carter, coordinate with MI6. I want every allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base."

"What about us?" she asked.

"We are going to set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass."

Jamie pursed her lips at hearing the swear, but did not dare to criticize the Colonel at his use of it.

"What do you two say, Rogers, Harper?" He continued, now addressing Steve and Jamie. "It's your map. You two think you can wipe Hydra off it?"

"Yes, sir," said Jamie.

"We'll need a team," said Steve.

The Colonel nodded as he began perusing a file that he'd been handed by another blonde woman. "We're already putting together the best men," he said.

"With all due respect, sir," said Steve cautiously, "so are we."

Colonel Phillips looked up in interest at Steve's words, but before he could question Steve by what he meant by that, he was distracted by someone calling out his name.

"Sir? Colonel Phillips?" came a young man's voice.

The group turned. Trent was hobbling into the room on his crutches. Upon return to the army camp a few days prior to coming to London, Trent had immediately been hurried into the Medical Tent by the doctors and nurses on staff at the camp and had begun treating his right leg. They'd cleaned and stitched up the gash that Steve had hurriedly treated back at the factory, and gave him some medicine for pain as well as antibiotics to deal with the infection and the cold he'd developed over his long months of capture. It was a surprise to see him up and about, because he'd been instructed to remain in the bed in the infirmary for at least another week until the stitches in his leg could be removed and his fever went down. Indeed, just from making the short walk to here from the infirmary had him grunting in pain, and his entire face was a bit red from his fever.

"Trentie!" shouted Jamie happily. She bolted away from Steve and the other adults, and crossed the room to tackle Trent in a hug.

Trent nearly lost his balance with his crutches from the force of her tackle. "Whoa! James, careful!" he said. "I'm on crutches right now, remember?"

She poked her head out from his uniform and gave him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, big bro. I'm just still so happy to be with you again! You have no idea how worried I've been about you these past few months."

"Likewise with me about you," he replied. "But may I just say, I really wasn't expecting to see you in here right now. Didn't you tell me earlier that you have private lessons with a tutor while here on base?"

"I'm on break. I just got back to the bookstore. I bought this cool book on Norse mythology, but I'll show it to you later, because the real question is what're _you_ doing here? You're supposed to be on bed rest!"

"I have a matter to discuss with Colonel Phillips."

"Okay! Colonel Phillips! My brother—"

"Wants you to go back to your tutor," Trent interjected.

The adults exchanged subtle looks. It seemed that whatever it was Trent wanted to discuss with Colonel Phillips, he did not want Jamie to hear.

"But Trent—"

"It's not for your ears, Jamie," said Trent firmly.

"But I've hardly spent any time with you since your rescue a few days ago!" She whined sadly. She wasn't stupid. She knew her brother well enough to know that he was acting suspiciously. "I wanted to play with you later!"

"It's all right, J.J.," Steve cut it, trying to help. "You and I were planning that thing later on tonight, remember? Trent was included in that mix."

"Oh, _that_ thing!" she said knowingly and with a giggle.

"What thing?" said Trent.

"You'll find out tonight!" Jamie said firmly and with no room for argument.

Trent did his best to shrug since he was still using his crutches to keep standing. "Whatever. Anyone, get on back to your lessons, Jamie. Whatever it is you and Rogers are planning, I'll apparently be there and we can talk more then."

"Fine," she said begrudgingly. She stood up on her tiptoes, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "See you later then, Trent. Love you!" Then she turned and grabbed her book, and waved goodbye to Steve, Agent Carter, and Colonel Phillips before turning around, and exiting the room.

But Jamie did not go back to her tutor. Instead, she hovered by the wall just out of sight of the doorway. She knew eavesdropping was rude, but it was somewhat of a habit of hers for years now. She wanted to know what was going on. She may be Trent's little sister, but she was also a First Lieutenant now and the child super-soldier Liberty Belle. She had the right to know what was going on.

The adults, completely unaware of the fact that she was listening in, all turned to face Trent.

"What is it you want to discuss, Sergeant Harper?" asked Colonel Phillips.

"Before I begin, do you mind if I sit down, sir? It's not easy standing up for long stretches on my crutches."

Phillips nodded, and motioned for a nearby private to bring over two chairs. One for Trent to sit on, and the other to prop his leg up on and keep it elevated. As soon as he was comfortable, Trent looked Phillips right in the eye.

"Before I say what I came here to say, sir, I humbly request that you overlook the fact that you're my superior officer, because when I say what I've been rehearsing to say these past few days to you, I'm not sure if it is appropriate for a Sergeant to be asking a Colonel, but it is appropriate considering I'm an older brother and you are currently the one who's in charge of my younger sister's daily schedule."

Colonel Phillips blinked. It wasn't every day that someone asked him to put aside the fact that he was the Colonel and wished to speak freely to him without fear of repercussions of having said something out of turn. Sure, people wished to do so, but it was very rare that someone gathered the courage to actually ask it. Even Steve and Agent Carter were surprised by Trent's words.

Beyond the door, Jamie listened with rapt attention. She had no idea what Trent could want. If he wanted something, couldn't he have just asked while she was still in the room?

"Your words are noted," replied the Colonel carefully.

Trent nodded. He took a deep breath as he gathered his courage, and then announced his request quite abruptly.

"I want you to send my sister back home to America."

There was a long silence inside the room.

Out in the hallway, Jamie's jaw had dropped, and she had to fight the urge to march back inside and scream. She didn't care what his reasons were for wanting her to go home, but she was furious by it. The only thing that kept her from running in was knowing that she'd just look foolish and immature if she were to go in and start screaming. No, she'd stay silent and just listen.

Back in the room, Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter, and Steve all stared at Trent.

"Son," said Colonel Phillips, "I understand you're worried about Lieutenant Harper, but—"

"With all due respect sir, and forgive me for interrupting you, but I do not think you understand at all," Trent calmly deflected. "Are any of you married? Do you have kids of your own, or at the very least any little brothers or sisters?"

There was a brief pause as the adults exchanged looks, but they all shook their head after a few moments.

"Didn't think so, and because of that, I do not think any of you can ever fully understand how much I love my little sister, or how much she means to me. I understand that we're currently in the middle of a war. I understand that. What I don't understand is why you needed to pick her — my only sister — to be this child super-soldier otherwise known as Liberty Belle. Jamie explained to me earlier that she and a bunch of other kids from the orphanage were plucked out of the place by you people and went through a series of trials as you decided on whom to pick to become that super-child. Now, I'm going to ignore the fact that I personally think that you forcing children to become soldiers is very, very wrong. Instead, what I'm going to ask is why. Why her? Why did you pick her? There were plenty of other kids in that orphanage, and she's not technically a real orphan. I'm her older brother and her legal guardian. She was only living there as an extended guest because the government dictated she had to go somewhere when I was drafted and I had no one to take care of her in the meantime. So, why her?"

Colonel Phillips sighed. "You need to understand, Sergeant Harper, that your sister being chosen to become the child super-soldier was not my idea."

"What do you mean?"

"If it had been up to me at the time, your sister would have stayed in the orphanage the day myself and Agent Carter went to it and selected kids we thought had the potential to be a good child soldier. It was not my decision to select her. She's a bit younger than what I wanted. I wanted kids that were at least twelve, if not a bit older."

Trent turned to Agent Carter. "Then you picked her?"

Agent Carter shook her head. "No, I was not the one to pick your sister. The one who chose her was Doctor Erskine."

"Doctor Erskine?"

"He's the one who developed the serums that made Jamie and myself into superior beings," Steve explained.

"Well, then where is this Doctor Erskine? I want to talk to him."

"He was assassinated by a Hydra spy just minutes after the experiment we both underwent was completed."

Trent paused as he considered Steve's words.

"I've read the letter's Jamie's been writing to me but I never received because I was captured," he said, looking Steve right in the eye as he spoke. "I've read the letters. My sister adores you. You're her hero in her eyes. So, I'm going to ask you to be the hero she needs right now and support what I'm saying! Jamie is ten-years-old! She's a _child!_ A little girl! She should not be out on the battlefield! If you really need this Liberty Belle character as an iconic image, then at the very least have her keeping doing those promotional tours she mentioned! No one will try to kill her if she's just performing on a stage!"

Jamie was actually growing very offended. How could Trent have such little faith in her?

"I know we are currently fighting a losing war. I know that, but Rogers, you're Captain America. You're genetically enhanced just like she is, and what's more, you're an adult. You can do just fine without her here. So I'll say it again: Jamie is a little girl. I'm asking — no — _begging_ all of you to let my little sister go home. I know firsthand that war _breaks_ people! I'm not just talking physically here! I mean emotionally! If you all think that you know Jamie as well as you think you do, then you know she's a sensitive girl. You know I'm right. _I_ know I'm right, because I know my sister. I know she means well and her heart is in the right place for wanting to help you guys, but… she can't handle the reality war. I'm afraid that if she stays and… and God forbid something really bad happens… she'll snap and shut down! I know it! I know her! I know that's what'll happen!

"So please! I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll fight any battle you ask of me and I'll lay down my life for this country. You want to punish me, Colonel, for saying all this to you? Go right ahead! But please! _Please!_ Let Jamie go home! Let her go home and live her life! Let her _live!"_

For a while, nobody spoke. The adults could see Trent's point and where he was coming from. But unfortunately, they could not agree to it.

"Sergeant Harper," said Colonel Phillips finally, "I understand your reluctance to allow Lieutenant Harper to remain in the military, and I see your point of view. But she's a valuable asset to us winning this war. We need to keep her here."

"Sir, with all due respect, Colonel — with all possible respect I can give — do you really? I personally believe Captain Rogers can manage quite well on his own against Hydra. She's just the sidekick, after all."

"Sergeant Harper, I can guarantee you that her safety on the battlefield will be one of our top priorities."

"With respect, sir, you actually can't guarantee me that. People die out there everyday. I do not want my sister to die. I'm her legal guardian, and as her legal guardian, I'm formally requesting that you send her back home."

"Sergeant Harper, I cannot do that."

"But as her only living family member, I have the power to—"

"Sergeant Harper, the moment you were drafted, your sister became a ward of the state of New York, and that thereby placed her in the care of the United States government. When we were given clearance to take her and those other children from the orphanage, her wellbeing was transferred to being in the care of the United States Army. As of right now, you are not her legal guardian. I technically am, and I need her to stay here and fight. This subject is closed."

There was a long pause. Trent did not speak. He was fighting to keep his face in a neutral expression. Steve and Agent Carter both wondered if he would explode and actually start yelling at Phillips. Finally, he nodded.

"I understand, sir."

And with that, he did his best to stand back up again so that he could grab his crutches and leave the room.

Out in the corridor, Jamie quickly walked away, not wanting to be discovered, and headed off to find her private tutor. She was very hurt. How could Trent not want her to stay here with him? She knew fighting was dangerous, but didn't he understand that the only reason why she was here at all was because she wanted to help him? She couldn't help but feel somewhat insulted by him wanting her to go back home.

As she spent the rest of the day with her tutor, her tutor could sense something was not right. Jamie was acting… strange, to say the least. The teacher knew that although the little girl was generally bored by the lessons, she still paid attention and was a diligent student. Today, she was acting very quiet, and the tutor literally had to call her name several times on many occasions to snap her out of her thoughts and to pay attention to the Math lesson. Something had upset her. He wasn't sure what it was, but she was clearly upset. It wasn't his place though to ask what it was that made her upset, so he went to someone who did have the right.

When Steve came to get her as soon as her lessons were done for the day so that they could start preparing their surprise for Trent, Bucky, and a bunch of the other men they'd seen fight back at the Hydra factory, the tutor pulled him aside as she was busily packing up her schoolbooks.

"She's upset about something," the man told Steve. "I'm not sure what it is, but she's upset. She barely heard a word I said all day ever since her break."

Steve was baffled. He didn't know that she'd overheard the conversation between him, Agent Carter, Colonel Phillips, and Trent, so he had no idea why she was so upset. He asked her about it as he walked her back to her room in the base to drop off her books.

"Your tutor says you were rather quiet today," he said carefully.

"I'm quiet most days, Steve," she said back. "School's boring."

"Quieter than usual, I mean. He said you seemed upset."

"So?"

"So is everything okay?"

She sighed. "I'm just upset about Trent. He's pushing me away, and I don't like it."

"J.J.—"

"Weren't we planning to talk to him, Bucky, and all those other guys from the cell blocks in the Hydra factory at that pub later? To invite them to be the members of our Hydra-Squashing team?" she interrupted. "I think we should be focusing on that right now."

Steve sighed. As much as he liked Jamie, he couldn't force her to open up to him if she didn't want to if it was about to Trent. That was technically none of his business. All he could do is try and get her to talk to Trent later on while at the pub. Whatever was going on with her, only Trent could fix. It was a matter between the two siblings.

* * *

Timothy Dugan, or as he preferred to be called by his friends, Dum Dum, took off his favorite bowler hat, and took a very long swig of his glass of scotch.

He, along with some of the other men back at the Hydra base, Gabe Jones, James Montgomery Falsworth, Jim Morita, and Jacques Dernier, were all sitting around one of the tiny wooden tables of the local pub in London, and across from them sat Steve and Jamie. It had not been easy for the group to convince the pub owner to allow Jamie inside since she was underage, but after a bribe of a hundred pound note from Steve and the promise that she would only be drinking a soda, the owner begrudgingly allowed her to enter.

Steve and Jamie were currently in the process of trying to convince the men sitting in front of them to be willing to join their elite force in stopping Hydra.

Dum Dum drained his glass, and slammed it back down on the table before he spoke.

"So, let's get this straight," he said, earning a nod from Jones.

"We barely got out of there alive, and you want us to go back?"

Jamie had the decency to look sheepish at his question, as well as a little guilty. Steve just shrugged.

"Pretty much," he said.

"If you don't want to, we understand," said Jamie. "We know it's not fair of us to ask at all, but we both saw everything all of you did while escaping from the Hydra factory. Steve and I both believe you're all the best men for our team."

Falsworth, the British member at the table, actually looked excited. "Sounds rather fun, actually," he said.

Jim, the Japanese-American, was sitting beside him, and belched rather loudly before he spoke. "I'm in," he said. He and the others all had to try hard not to laugh at the way Jamie's face was wrinkling up her tiny face at the smell of his slight burp, and was busily fanning away the scent as it drew steadily nearer to her.

Jacques, the French man that had unintentionally insulted Jamie back at the Hydra factory, began speaking rapidly in his native tongue. Jones began speaking back to him in French. After a moment of rapt conversation between the two, Jacques grinned widely and shook Jones' hand. Jones soon turned to face Steve and Jamie again.

"We're in," he said. "Although he has the additional condition that the shrimp never sass talks him again like she did back at the factory, and I want to clarify that it's him that's calling the girl the shrimp, not me."

Just like back at the Hydra factory, Jamie's cheeks turned all red and puffed up as she scowled angrily at Jacques and clenched her fists tight. Steve and the others had to fight the urge to chuckle. They were quite sure that if she had been standing when she'd heard the translation, she would've stomped her foot in anger.

"Well, you tell Mr. Frenchie that I won't sass talk him again, so long as he promises not to call me such degrading and demeaning nicknames such as pipsqueak and shrimp!" she snapped. "Tell him not to humiliate me, and we'll get along just fine!"

Jones smirked in amusement, but nonetheless translated her message. Jacques rolled his eyes but nodded. Now that he knew her a little better, even he had to admit her antics were a little funny and cute.

"Hell, I'll always fight," said Dum Dum. "But you got to do one thing for me."

"What's that?" asked Steve.

"I'll tell you what!" said Jamie, her scowl only growing on her little face. "It's smack him upside the head each time he swears! Don't swear, Timmy!"

Dum Dum laughed. "First of all, kid, nobody calls me Timmy, and secondly, you need to get used it. People are always going to swear in the military."

"I don't care!" she said firmly. "I'm not ever gonna swear! I'm gonna break people of their habit of swearing! Maybe I should start charging people a quarter every time they swear in front of me! I'll get rich and make them stop swearing at the same time! As for your name, _you_ need to get used to _that,_ because I'm not going to call you dumb! That's plain insulting!"

"Fine, but speaking of money, that's my condition," Dum Dum went on, a small smile on his face. "Open a tab!"

The men all laughed as Steve nodded, and collected the empty glasses scattered around the surface of the table, and began carrying them back to the bar for refills as Jamie tailed along behind him. As soon as they had delivered the drinks to their new crew, they both went over to Trent and Bucky, who were sitting off to the side at the bar as they enjoyed their own drinks, though Trent was drinking a soda like Jamie since he, too, was not twenty-one.

"Well, that was easy," they heard Dum Dum mutter quietly to the others. They all chuckled.

Jamie just nodded a bit to Trent as she sat down beside Steve at the bar. She was still a little hurt after overhearing what he had to say about her this afternoon. Steve, Bucky, and Trent were all a little puzzled by her distant behavior, but simply disregarded it.

"See? I told you," said Bucky to his lifelong friend. "They're all idiots."

Steve snickered. "How about you?" He asked. "You ready to follow Captain America and Liberty Belle into the jaws of death?"

"Hell, no."

"Swear word, Bucky!"

"Sorry," said Bucky, pausing to ruffle Jamie's pigtails before continuing. "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight. I'm following him. Him and this little girl who has the guts to cross the Austrian border equipped with nothing but a torch that lights up with sparklers."

Steve smiled, and turned to look at Trent. "How about you?" he asked. After what had happened this afternoon with Trent's pleading to let Jamie be sent back home, he really didn't know what Trent would choose.

Trent paused as he thought it over.

"He's going to say no," said Jamie, her words angry and clipped as she took a drink of her glass of coke.

All three men turned to look at her.

"What makes you think I'm not going to help, sis?" asked Trent incredulously.

She folded her arms and glared at him. "The fact that you begged Steve here and Colonel Phillips earlier today to send me home and not help stop Hydra might have something to do with it!" she spat.

Bucky, the only one at the bar who had not been privy to that conversation, looked over at Steve and Trent in surprise. Steve and Trent were both staring at her, now realizing that the reason why she was acting so cold to Trent was because she'd eavesdropped on the conversation.

Steve wanted to say something to his young protégé, to reassure her that Trent had only done that because he loved her very much and was simply worried about her, but he recognized that this was not his place to get involved. This was between her and her brother. He turned to look at Trent.

Trent's eyes were wide as he stared at his little sister, shocked that she knew about that. He was biting his lower lip, seemingly contemplating something. Finally, he turned to Steve and Bucky.

"Will you two excuse us for a minute?" he asked kindly.

Steve and Bucky both nodded, and quickly left the bar to sit at a nearby table and wait out what would probably be an ugly confrontation.

As soon as they left, Trent sighed, and moved to sit in the stool directly next to Jamie. "You eavesdropped on that conversation, didn't you?"

"I figured that as a First-Class Lieutenant, I had the right to know what was going on."

"Jamie, please try and understand—"

"No! I don't understand, Trent!" she snapped, refusing to meet his gaze. "I get that you're worried about me. That I get, but you have no right to go up to Steve and Colonel Phillips and demand that I not fight! I'm Liberty Belle! I have to do what's right for all of America! And the world! I have to stay here and fight against Hydra!"

"Jamie, please let me speak. If you're still angry with me when I'm done, you can yell at me all you want, but let me explain myself first."

"Fine!" she spat, her pigtails flying about wildly as snapped her head around to look at him.

Trent paused for a moment and he considered what he wanted to say and to make her understand what he was thinking. "Jamie, you are my baby sister. The only sister I'll ever have. You'll never be able to understand how much I love you, and it's because I love you that I requested that you go back home. You're just a little girl, and you have an entire life ahead of you. I promised our Mom that I'd always keep you safe, that I'd never let anyone hurt you. I can't do that if you're constantly twirling around to dodge bullets on the battlefield as you try to hide behind Rogers' shield. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Jamie didn't smile, but she did Trent's point, and she nodded. "Well, what about my promise to Mom?" she asked. "She told me to always be kind, but more importantly, she told me to always be brave! I can't just go back home and ignore everything that's happening! Not when I have the power to help!"

Trent sighed again. "I understand, James. Really, I do. I just wish it didn't have to come to this…"

"If you want to protect me so badly, Trent, join me and Steve's team!" she pleaded. "You can protect me that way! Steve will protect my front, and you'll watch over my back!"

Trent didn't reply as he contemplated the suggestion. He just raised his glass of soda to his lips and took a long drink.

"Come on, Trent! Will you join Liberty Belle and her mentor Captain America in saving the world?"

For a long time, Trent did not say anything. When he finally answered her, his words were very firm.

"No. I will not join Liberty Belle's team."

Jamie stared. She could not believe what she'd just heard. How could he say that? How could her loving older brother say he would not help her while she was on the battlefield?

She tried to move to climb down off her stool and run away crying, but Trent grabbed her hand.

"Jamie, look at me," he ordered.

Fighting back tears, Jamie looked up at him. To her complete surprise, he was smiling kindly down at her.

"I can't join Liberty Belle's team," he went on, "because I've already decided to join my little sister Jamie Harper's team, led by her mentor Steve Rogers, and I'm not joining it to help her save the world. I'm joining to make sure she doesn't do something dumb like get herself killed."

Jamie laughed, and promptly flung her arms around his neck.

"You scared me! That was a cruel joke!"

"Hey! You know me well enough to know that I live for jokes, James! Especially cruel one's…"

Jamie just laughed, and hugged Trent even tighter.

"All right, why don't we call Bucky and Rogers back over, now. How does that sound?"

Jamie nodded, and Trent waved the two grown-ups back over.

"So, sport," said Bucky as he and Steve reclaimed their bar stools, "I take it you and Jamie made up?"

"Everything's fine now, thanks, Buck," answered Trent with a smirk. Bucky grinned, and threw a mock punch at Trent's shoulder.

"I take it you two have become rather good friends, huh?" asked Steve.

Trent shrugged. "Nothing says male bonding more than being held hostage in a Nazi factory together," he retorted.

Jamie lightly laughed.

"Hey, you two aren't keeping the outfits, right?" asked Bucky suddenly, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the poster of Steve and Jamie in their Captain America and Liberty Belle costumes which had been put up to promote their previously planned tour across Europe. The Steve on the poster was holding his shield in one hand, and saluting poster onlookers with the other. At his side stood Jamie, with one hand on her hip, and the other holding her torch up high over her head. Across the entire expanse of the poster, a large sign had been stamped across it with the following words written upon it: 'Tour Cancelled Until Further Notice.'

"You know what?" said Steve, pausing a moment so as to take a swig of his drink. "It's kind of growing on me."

"I've already decided I'm keeping mine," Jamie declared. "I look cute in it! And I love have a secret identity!"

Trent chuckled and wrapped his arm around Jamie's shoulder.

"You most certainly do look cute in your Liberty Belle dress, Jamie… You most certainly do…"

Jamie beamed happily up at her brother, and opened her mouth to say more, when the soldiers who'd been singing loud, out of tune songs by the nearby piano suddenly went quiet, and a hushed silence fell over the entire pub. The quartet turned around in their stools.

Agent Carter had just entered the dingy pub, dressed in a splendid red dress that greatly accentuated her womanly figure. Her presence immediately seemed to light up Steve's entire face, Jamie noticed. The careless smile he'd had just chatting with her, Steve, and Bucky was gone, and replaced with a smile that was both warm and welcoming to the newest patron. He nodded kindly to her as she approached their group, and all four of them rose to their feet.

"Captain, Lieutenant," she greeted pleasantly.

"Agent Carter," said Steve, nodding to her again.

"Ma'am," said Bucky, nodding politely.

"Hello, again," said Trent.

"Hi, Agent Carter!" Jamie said brightly. "It's nice to see you outside the base for once!"

Agent Carter smiled, filled with genuine warmth at Jamie's words. "You as well," she replied, gently patting her shoulder. Jamie giggled, and Agent Carter's smile only grew. She really Jamie. She was such a sweet and innocent little girl. It was hard to believe that this girl standing before her was not only a First-Class Lieutenant, but also the same little girl that had infiltrated a Hydra factory and, with Steve's help, freed over four hundred men from certain death. After one last smile to the little girl, she turned her attention back up at Steve.

"Howard has some equipment for you and Jamie to both try. Tomorrow morning?" she asked.

Steve nodded. "Sounds good," he agreed.

Agent Carter then looked expectantly down at Jamie.

"That's fine," said Jamie.

Agent Carter nodded, and then glanced over in the direction of the rest of their team as they continued belting out bar songs as they all chugged down their glasses of scotch and whiskey.

"I see your top squad is prepping for duty," she noted.

Bucky couldn't resist the opportunity. He flashed her a charming smile. "You don't like music?" he asked.

"I do, actually," she said, but did not meet Bucky's eyes. She was looking only at Steve as she spoke. "I might even, when this is all over, go dancing."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Bucky, trying to flirt once again.

Agent Carter smiled. "The right partner," she said. She paused, then added, "0800, Captain, Lieutenant," before leaving the bar without another word.

"Yes, ma'am," Steve called out after her.

"We'll be there!" Jamie added.

Bucky frowned. "I'm invisible," he grumbled to Steve. "I'm turning into you. It's like a horrible dream."

"Don't take it so hard," Steve advised, chuckling as he patted his best friend on the back. "Maybe she's got a friend."

Jamie tilted her head to the side in confusion. As the four of them walked back over to their seats at the bar, she lightly tugged on Trent's hand to get his attention.

"Are all adult relationships always so complicated?" she whispered.

Trent just laughed as they sat down, and patted his sister on the head.

"Believe me, James," he said as he lifted his glass. "Give it a couple more years, and you'll know just how complicated they can be."

* * *

The next morning, Jamie was given permission to skip her morning lessons with her tutor, and accompanied Steve back to the main room of the base with Pannie tucked under one of her arms.

"What do you think Howie wants for us to test?" she innocently asked as they entered the main room.

"Peggy mentioned something about it being some equipment, so I'm guess that. Other than that, I don't know," he answered as they maneuvered their way around people working in the main room. They approached the blonde secretary on duty at the main desk, her nose buried in this morning's edition of the paper, and Steve cleared his throat to get her attention. "Excuse me," he said. "We're looking for Mr. Stark."

"He's in with Colonel Phillips," she replied monotonously, not even bothering to look up from the article she was reading as she spoke.

Steve and Jamie both nodded, and moved to stand off to the side and get out of the way. The blonde looked up at them for half-a-second before glancing back down at the newspaper. It took her a second to register who it was standing in front of her, and her head shot back up again.

"Of course," she added, her tone much more friendly this time. "You're welcome to wait."

Steve nodded slightly, but Jamie stared at the woman, a tiny bit puzzled. Steve hadn't seemed to notice, but she had. The woman had been looking directly at Steve when she spoke, and didn't even really acknowledge Jamie at all.

The woman smiled as she turned in her seat, and showed them the front-page article of the newspaper: _Four Hundred Prisoners Liberated._

"I… uh… I read about what you did," she went on, her voice still honey-coated and her eyes still only on Steve as she spoke.

Jamie frowned, but Steve was much too friendly for his own good, and both missed the strange tone in the woman's voice, and the fact that the secretary was only speaking to him and not Jamie at all as he nodded modestly at the article.

"Oh, the… Yeah. Well, that's… you know…"

"We did what needed to be done," said Jamie, clutching her panda bear tightly. She was experimenting. She wanted to see if the blonde secretary would look at her if she were to speak up.

"Sounded like more than that. You saved nearly four hundred men," the woman said. As Jamie had guessed, the woman still didn't look at her at all. She was speaking directly to Steve.

This time, Steve picked up on it. "Uh, really, it's not a big deal," he said awkwardly.

The secretary smirked seductively as she got to her feet. "Tell that to their wives."

She crossed the short distance between herself and Steve. Steve was looking rather uncomfortable now.

Jamie was shrinking away. She was starting to feel more than a bit embarrassed, although she didn't really understand why. All she knew for sure was that she wished the woman would stop talking in that weird tone and would break her eye contact with Steve. If she did that, maybe this weird moment would end, and she wouldn't feel like such a third wheel in this situation.

"Um…" said Steve, crossing his arms across his chest self-consciously. "I-I-I don't think they were all married…"

"M-ma'am?" Jamie mumbled weakly. "W-what're you—?"

"Hush, honey," said the secretary, glancing down momentarily at Jamie as she placed one of her well manicured fingers to Jamie's lips. "The adults are talking."

Jamie was too embarrassed and confused to say anything back, so the secretary took her silence as affirmation that she'd stay quiet, and then looked back up at Steve.

"You're a hero."

Steve blushed very hard. "W-well, that depends on the definition, really…"

He was cut off when the secretary lightly tugged on the tie of his uniform.

"The women of America, they owe you their thanks," she whispered. She lightly dragged him by his tie back to the slightly concealed area right next to her desk. "And," she added huskily, "seeing as they're not here…"

She smirked, and promptly yanked Steve's tie to force him another inch closer to her, and then forced her lips onto his.

Jamie's jaw dropped as Pannie slid from her fingers and fell to the ground. She was beyond shocked. She wanted to say something — anything — right then, but she was too stunned to speak. She could not believe what she was witnessing.

Agent Carter was just coming over to call for Steve and Jamie when she saw Jamie standing all alone in front of the secretary's deserted desk, and staring into the enclosure between the desk and a set of filing cabinets in stunned silence with her mouth hanging open and her stuffed bear at her feet. Curious, she stepped closer to the girl to see what had her so shocked.

Her heart clenched when she saw Steve kissing the secretary.

"Captain!" she barked.

Steve abruptly jumped away from the secretary, and Jamie snapped out of her shock and scrambled to pick up Pannie before looking up at her.

"We're ready for you and Jamie, if you're not otherwise occupied," she said shortly.

She marched away.

Steve quickly ran after her, and Jamie, not wanting to be anywhere near the secretary after what had just happened, sprinted after him.

"Agent Carter, wait!" said Steve desperately.

Agent Carter didn't look at him as she continued walking.

"Looks like finding a partner wasn't that hard at all."

"Peggy, that's not what you thought it was."

"I don't think anything, Captain, not one thing," she replied. "Though I'm willing to bet that Jamie might be thinking otherwise…"

Steve chanced a look behind him at his young protégé. She was pink in the face, and holding her hands out in front of her in a silent plea to be considered exempt from this discussion. She just wanted to stay an innocent bystander, even though she truly didn't understand at all why the secretary had just kissed him. Up until today, Steve had never spoken to the woman. At least as far as she knew of.

"You always wanted to be a soldier," Agent Carter went on, "and now you are, just like all the rest."

"Well, what about you and Stark?" Steve called out in a desperate attempt of making peace. "How do I know you two haven't been… fondue-ing?"

Jamie perked up slightly at these words, recalling her previous confusion on the subject back on the plane ride to the Hydra factory. Just like back then, the statement puzzled her, but unlike then, she did not ask what it was. She did not want to get involved in this.

Agent Carter just turned slightly and glanced at Steve over her shoulder. She stared at him for a moment, but then shook her head in baffled incredulousness.

"You still don't know a bloody thing about women," she muttered as she walked away.

Steve and Jamie stared after her for several moments.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that could've gone better," Jamie said after a long time.

Steve didn't answer her.

"Captain," she asked, gazing up at him. "What does fondue-ing mean?"

Again, Steve didn't answer her, but this time it was because he wasn't sure himself. After what had just transpired between him and Agent Carter, he was pretty sure that what he'd thought it meant hadn't been right.

"Nothing," he said finally. He took hold of one of her hands. "Come on. Stark's waiting for us."

Jamie blinked as he dragged her along behind him as he searched for Howard. She didn't understand. Why was Steve acting all quiet all the sudden? She understood that he was somewhat embarrassed about what had happened between him, Agent Carter, and that secretary, but that was as far as her understanding went. She didn't get why the secretary had just abruptly kissed him, nor did she understand what the big deal was about the word fondue. Steve seemed to be embarrassed about it, and Agent Carter had been annoyed when he brought it up.

What was the big deal? What did it mean? Was it some kind of kissy stuff?

Howard was in the next room, and nodded to them when he saw them enter.

"Morning," he greeted. "Sleep well?"

"Fine," said Steve off-handedly. His thoughts were still reeling from the entire ordeal involving that secretary.

"Good," said Jamie. She paused for a moment, but then continued speaking. "Howie, before you start showing us the equipment, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"What is fondue?"

Steve turned bright red and looked mortified, but Howard just nonchalantly shrugged.

"Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend."

Steve's eyebrows shot up. Jamie just looked even more confused.

"What? Seriously?" she asked. Seeing Howard's nod, she turned to look up at Steve. "If that's all that fondue is, why didn't you tell me, Steve? And I get you were still in shock over that incident with the secretary, but why did you ask Agent Carter whether or not she and Howie have been fondue-ing? It's not like it's kissy stuff or anything."

Steve's face just turned redder. Howard raised a brow, looking very amused.

"The incident with the secretary?"

"Don't ask," said Steve, pinching the bridge of his nose while ignoring Jamie's innocent question. "Seriously, do not ask. Anyway, I-I-I didn't think—"

"Nor should you, pal," said Howard, turning back around and motioning for Steve and Jamie to follow him over to two tables off to the side. "The moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked."

"Hey! I resent that!" Jamie pouted, clutching Pannie tightly as she spoke.

"My apologies," said Howard, pausing momentarily to ruffle her hair before glancing back up at Steve. "Me, I concentrate on work, which at the moment is about making sure you two and your men do not killed."

He showed them the first table. Lying stretched out across it were new variations of their Captain America and Liberty Belle uniforms. They both were still red, white, and blue and Jamie's was still a dress, but unlike the outfits they'd worn during their tour, which had been designed for showbiz purposes and would shine in the light, these new costumes were made for practicality on the battlefield. They were made of a somewhat thicker material, and they each contained a series of pockets connected to them, and had a couple of holsters each.

"They're both made of the same material. Carbon polymer," Howard explained, gently patting the Captain America uniform as he spoke. "Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although, Hydra's not going to attack you guys with pocket knives."

"Is it stretchy?" Jamie asked, running one of her hands over her new Liberty Belle dress. "If it's not, I won't be able to twirl away from bullets. And are the holsters really necessary? I already explained to Steve that I'm not planning to kill anyone while out on the battlefield. Just knock 'em out."

Howard paused at that revelation and turned to Steve. Steve was frowning.

"Jamie," he began. "When you're out on the battlefield, you might not have a choice. Sometimes it's kill or be killed."

"That may be your motto, Steve, but it's not mine," she declared. Unlike her usually careless and childish statements, Jamie's voice this time was very firm. "I'm going to go out there and be Liberty Belle. I'm going to fight. But I'm not going to kill anybody. You can't dissuade me from this. I have a no-killing code. That's my motto, and I'm sticking to it."

Steve sighed. He didn't like the idea of trying to convince a little girl that killing is all right, but he'd worry about it later. Right now, Howard was still waiting patiently to keep showing them their equipment. He turned and nodded to Howard to continue the presentation.

Howard nodded himself in reply, and moved towards their showbiz shield and torch.

"I hear you're both kind of attached?" he asked, tapping the shield.

"It's handier than you might think," said Steve.

"Mine makes a good weapon!" Jamie explained.

Howard shrugged, and moved over to the second table. Every inch of this table was covered in various types of large metallic shields and a series of small metal torches. Each one of the shields and torches looked very strong and durable.

"I took the liberty of coming up with some options," Howard went on. "And Jamie? Each of these torches has that same button on the side like your other torch did that emitted the sparklers. But unlike your stage torch, these one's will allow you to shoot out actual fire. Click the button once, and they'll spit out fireballs, but press down and hold, and you'll have a flaming sword."

Jamie nodded to show she understood the slightly different design concept, and began wandering down along the base of the table, periodically picking one of the torches up and testing the weight and balance. The majority of them were rather heavy, and she couldn't afford to tug a heavy rod with her onto the battlefield. She needed her torch to be light enough for her to carry, but still durable enough for her to use when whacking the backs of the heads of Hydra agents.

As she looked around, Steve was checking out the various types of shields.

"This one's fun," Howard told him as he pointed out a square shield. But Steve wasn't listening. He had just spied what looked like a large, circular shield and a tiny metal torch lying underneath the table. "She's been fitted with electrical relays that allow you to—"

"What about these?" he asked, reaching down under the table to grab the shield and torch. "J.J., come take a look."

"No, no," said Howard quickly as Jamie walked over and examined the torch. "Those're just prototypes."

The two super-soldiers ignored him. The shield was rather thin and had two leather straps in the back for Steve to put his arm through, but was large and surprisingly light as well, weighing a little over ten pounds all together. The torch was a bit smaller than the other torches Howard had put out on display, but definitely much lighter than them at the time, weighing approximately the same amount as the shield. It was a compact thing, and it could fit perfectly in Jamie's tiny hand, but at the time it was very durable, and Jamie had a feeling that if she were to bash the blunt end of it against someone's skull, their head would crack open.

"What're these made of?" she asked, gently sweeping the torch through the air so as to test the balance of it.

"Vibranium," Howard answered. "It's stronger than steel, and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent, and can withstand temperatures of up to five hundred degrees."

"I like the feel of it," Jamie exclaimed, tossing the torch from one hand to the other.

"How come they're not standard issues?" asked Steve.

"That's the rarest metal on earth," Howard explained. "What you two're holding there, that's all we got."

"I wanna test out the flames," said Jamie, looking up at Howard eagerly. "Can I?"

"All right, but aim for Steve's shield," he advised, nodding to Steve so he can hold the shield up. "We don't want anything catching on fire in here."

Jamie nodded, and set Pannie on top of the table before backing away several paces from Steve. She drew a deep breath, and aimed her torch readily at the metal shield in Steve's arm with both hands before clicking the button once. Instantly, a great, giant fireball erupted from her torch and went flying towards the shield. It died harmlessly upon hitting it.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "Okay, now everyone stand back! I wanna see this flaming sword thing!"

Steve and Howard nodded, and both backed away. She clicked and held down the button. A large flame shot out from the torch and hovered there. Very carefully, Jamie moved the torch no more than an inch to the right. The flames trailed along in time with the torch. She moved it to the left. The flames followed.

"This thing rocks!" she said excitedly, letting go of the button. The flames died away, and she picked up Pannie and gave him a big hug.

Steve and Howard both chuckled. "Glad you think so, kid," said Howard.

"I just have one question, Howie!"

"What's that?"

"You know how much I like flying! Do you think maybe you could install some sort of mechanics into my boots so I can fly?! Pretty please?!"

Howard laughed. "Sorry, Jamie, but you saw what happened at the Expo a while back. My hover technology isn't quite up to par to do that just yet."

"Aww…" she said, a frown stretching across her lips.

At that moment, Agent Carter entered the room. Her face was still stern over the events that had transpired earlier.

"Are you quite finished Mr. Stark?" she asked, her voice cold. "I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business."

Yeah. She was definitely still angry.

"Agent Carter! Look! Look at my new torch!" said Jamie, running up and showing the young woman her new vibranium torch. "Look at it! Isn't it cool?"

"Very cool," she agreed, her voice still a little stern, but she did smile to Jamie. What happened earlier had nothing to do with her. She had just witnessed the kiss. Her qualms were not with the little girl.

Steve raised the round shield on his arm and showed it to Agent Carter. He really wanted her opinion on it.

"What do you think?" he asked her.

Agent Carter seemed to consider him for a moment. Steve gulped. He knew she was still mad, but he was trying to make peace. Surely she could understand that. Right?

Evidently not.

Agent Carter, turned, selected a small pistol on the table beside her, and raised it up at Steve. Steve, horrified, held his shield out defensively in front of him as she fired the gun four times in rapid succession. The bullets bounced off the shield, falling harmlessly to the ground as they left four dents in the smooth metal.

Silence filled the room as people who'd ducked for cover from the crazy woman slowly looked up again, slowly coming back to their senses. Jamie squeezed Pannie tightly as she stared up at Agent Carter, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped. She had just tried to kill her mentor. She knew she was mad about what had happened between Steve and that secretary, but this was starting to get out of hand.

"Yes," said Agent Carter pleasantly, setting the gun back down on the table. "I think it works."

She started to walk away. Jamie wouldn't stand for that. She had to make Agent Carter understand the truth of what had happened between Steve and that other woman. Surely Agent Carter would listen to her. She'd been standing there and witnessed the entire thing. She could vouch for Steve.

"Agent Carter! Wait!" she said, quickly running up to her.

The woman stopped and turned to the little girl.

"Yes, Jamie?" she said, a little too amiably and with a very fixed smile.

"I just wanted to tell you that you can stop being so mad at Steve, and you want to know why? Because I'm a reliable witness to what happened! That secretary jumped Steve and kissed him. Steve didn't kiss her. She kissed him! Not the other way around!" She wagged her finger. "So you can go back to liking him and thinking he's an honorable man, okay? I know he likes you! So don't try to shoot him again, okay? Okay! Bye-bye!"

With having said that, she set the torch down on the table, smiled cheerily to a very much still-in-shock Steve, and skipped out of the room with Pannie under her arm.

For a long time, Agent Carter stared after her, blinking at what Jamie had just told her, and feeling very, very ashamed of her previous actions.

Steve stood rigid in shock, and his entire face was on fire. He knew had meant well by saying what she had, and he appreciated it, but damn it all! He'd never been so embarrassed in his entire life.

Howard had to raise a hand to his mouth to try and hide a snicker.

Slowly, with a neutral expression, Agent Carter turned to face Steve and Howard, and nodded to them.

"Gentlemen," she said tonelessly and in farewell before walking swiftly away from the scene with as much dignity as she could muster.

Steve stared after her. He was beyond mortified by what Jamie's attempt of a sweet gesture had done.

As Howard continued to try and hide his laughter, Steve reached into the inner pocket of his jacket pocket, and pulled out a sheet of paper. Without looking away from Agent Carter's retreating form, he handed it over to the engineer.

"Jamie and I had some ideas about the uniform," he said quietly.

"Whatever you want, pal," said Howard, a snicker still heard in his voice.

* * *

As soon as Trent's leg was healed well enough for him to return to the battlefield, Captain America and Liberty Belle, along with the rest of their squad, which had been given the codename, the Howling Commandos, set off on their conquest to find and destroy each and every last Hydra base in all of Europe. It was almost too easy for Steve, Jamie, and the rest of the team to infiltrate and destroy the Hydra factories. While Bucky and Trent would lead the rest of the team in collecting information from the bases, Steve and Jamie would take on the mass majority of the Hydra soldiers.

They were no longer the Unlikely Duo. They worked together flawlessly. They were the Dynamic Duo, now. With the help of their upgraded uniforms, torch, and shield, Captain America and Liberty Belle were fighting better than ever before, and after each raid, they would often be seen together riding a motorcycle as they escaped the burning fortresses. The Captain would be driving the fight while Liberty rode in its attached sidecar, shooting out fiery fireballs at Hydra agents if they dared to follow them.

Steve's new shield, which had been painted to match his uniform in a red, white, and blue stripe pattern and a five-pointed white star in the exact center, was now acting almost like a weapon for him now. He could throw it and stun many Hydra enemies at once with one swing, and it often had a boomerang-like return effect. Upon throwing it most of the time at enemies, it would ricochet right back to his hand, allowing him to throw it around and not worry about having to retrieve it after.

Jamie's new torch, now painted silver, made her just as deadly, and it allowed her to conquer her foes very easily. If there were only a handful of enemies around, she would either click the button on her torch rapidly several times and spit out huge fireballs to defeat them or fight hand-to-hand with the guards and whack them on the back of the head with the blunt end of her new weapon, but if she and Steve ended up getting surrounded, she would make her torch turn into a flaming sword, and in the process of forcing them to stay back when waving the flames around, would occasionally burn the faces of the Hydra guards.

Their new iconic weapons weren't the only things new about Dynamic Duo now, though. In between the raids, the two were now receiving proper training in how to fight hand-to-hand. In addition now to their boxing skills, they now were quite proficient in having learned Judo, Jiu-jitsu, Taekwondo, and Akido, some of which styles were taught to them by higher-ranking army veterans, while other fighting styles the other members of the Howling Commandos were kind enough to instruct them in.

Speaking of learning from the Howling Commandos, Gabe Jones had additionally started teaching both Steve and Jamie how to speak French so they could communicate with Jacques and thereby stop having to ask him to translate everything, though Steve and the others all secretly believed that it was really so he wouldn't have to be the middleman in between Jamie and Jacques when the two of them bantered.

Jacques now had nothing against Jamie after what he'd seen her do that day when she and Steve rescued him from captivity, but he immensely enjoyed teasing her about her tiny size for kicks, and they made Jamie quite angry. She would yell and snap back Jacques, all while forcing Jones to translate for her. Jones, just like all the other men in the squad, knew that Jacques was only teasing her to get a rise out of her and meant no ill by it. He actually found the fights between the two of them quite comical, but he also didn't want to be involved in it, which was why he now joined her private tutor in her lessons.

Jamie didn't mind. As much as Jacques got under her skin, she was unable to stop being annoyed with him, and although she kept yelling at him, she really did feel bad about forcing Jones to translate their conversations back and forth.

They also were given guns of their own to carry on their persons' at all times. Although Jamie carried it in its protective holster on the waist of her dress, she had never once used it, no matter what Steve, Trent, or any of the other Howling Commandos said to try and convince her otherwise. She was quite firm on the decision that although she may be forced to have it, that didn't mean she had to use it. She would not use it. She would not take a human life. No matter what the circumstance was. While everyone else in the squad, including Steve, took the lives of the Hydra soldiers all the time, she would only knock them out or severely injure them. She would not kill any of them with either her pistol, or her torch. She would not do it.

Soon, the last days of November faded away, and December arrived. And all too soon, it was Christmas Eve.

"Are you excited, Jamie?" Trent asked her on the afternoon of Christmas Eve Day. Due to the holidays, the team had been given the clear by Colonel Phillips to take today and tomorrow off. "Santa Claus is gonna come tonight. Have you been a good little girl this year?"

To his and many other people surprise at the base, Jamie shook her head so hard, her little pigtails slapped either end of her face.

"I don't think Santa's going to come, Trent," she told him.

Steve, Bucky, the rest of the Howling Commandos, Howard, and Agent Carter watched with apprehension as Trent was momentarily stunned by the little girl's proclamation. Even Colonel Phillips brows had risen in surprise. She was the type of little kid they all had assumed would still believe in jolly old Saint Nick.

"What makes you say that?" said Trent after a few moments.

To everyone's surprise, Jamie looked very sad for a second, and then began pouting as she answered. "Well, for starters, we don't have a Christmas tree! And no milk and cookies! And what's worse, we're in London right now! Santa won't know to find me here to bring me my presents! And even if he did, there's no chimney! He'd have to land on the street and come into the base through the front door! The guards wouldn't let him in! They'd probably think he was a Hydra spy in disguise!"

There was a long silence after she said all this. And then everyone in the room began laughing. Jamie became quite indignant at their response to her concerns.

"It's not funny!" she said, very mad. "Do any of you know how upset I am knowing that Santa won't be coming because of all these reasons?!"

She looked like she was about to cry.

Seeing her face, Trent managed to force himself to stop laughing. "We're sorry, sis," he replied, bending down a bit and patting her shoulder as he spoke. "It's just… you're too cute sometimes."

"What did I say that was so cute?! Again, what I said was real concerns! Santa's probably not gonna come!"

Trent smiled, and looked over his shoulder at everyone else. Everyone caught wind of the twinkle in his eyes, and knew what he was silently asking. Seeing them all discreetly nod, he turned back to face his little sister.

"Well, we're just gonna make sure he does come then, won't we?"

Jamie looked up at him, puzzled. "Huh?"

"Go get your coat. You and me are going to go buy ourselves a Christmas tree."

And sure enough, less than two hours later, she and Trent returned to the base, working together to carry a pine tree inside after scourging the nearby lot that was selling trees. Jamie was beaming from ear-to-ear as she and Trent set the tiny tree down in the exact center of the main room of the base.

While they were out, Steve and Bucky had gone out to purchase a set of cheap ornament balls and a star, and a couple of the Howling Commandos went to the nearest convenience store and bought a gallon of milk and a couple boxes of cookies.

"We're gonna decorate this tree!" Trent told his sister, making her entire face light up with joy. "We're gonna make this damn tree so nice, Santa will have to show up!"

"Swear word, Trent!" Jamie chastised, but she did not dare hit him right then. Instead, she laughed and tackled him in a great big hug.

Working together, she, Trent, Steve, Bucky, the other members of the Howling Commandos, and even Agent Carter and Howard worked together to fix up the impromptu Christmas tree. Colonel Phillips, to the surprise of many of the others, did not say anything while they did this, but he watched the entire scene with a small, barely noticeable smile on his face. By the time almost all the decorating was complete, it was dark, and snow could be seen through the windows of the base, lightly falling down upon the paved brick streets of London.

"All that's left now is the star!" Jamie said excitedly, holding the golden tree topper in her hands as she bounced up and down.

"And you're the one who'll be putting it on," said Steve. He lifted his spritely ten-year-old protégé up by her waist, and held her up near the top of the tree. She laughed with delight as she placed the star at the very top of the tree.

Agent Carter brought out a plate and an empty glass, and people couldn't help but smile as they watched Jamie eagerly pour the milk into the glass, and carefully arrange the cookies on the plate.

"There! Now that we've got a tree — a very nice tree, too, considering it was thrown together in less than five hours — and we've put out the milk and cookies, I think Santa will definitely be showing up. Don't you?"

"But what about the guards at the entrance?" Jamie asked Trent worriedly. "Won't they try and stop Santa from coming in to leave the presents? And what about the fact we're in London? He'll looking for me back in Brooklyn!"

Trent just smirked, and glanced over his shoulder at the Howling Commandos. "Oi! Falsworth! Will you be kind enough to tell the guards at the entrance that if they catch a big, jolly old man dressed in red and carrying a sack of toys over his shoulder trying to come inside tonight, to just let him be and not try and kill him on sight?"

Falsworth grinned. "Right away, Yankee boy!" said the Brit, and he left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Trent looked back down at Jamie, and began ruffling her hair. "Now, sis. Answer me this: Do you believe that Santa Claus can do anything?"

"Of course!"

"Why, then, do you not believe that he wouldn't know that you're currently living in London?"

Jamie blinked at him. For a moment, everyone worried that she would not believe the question Trent had proposed just proposed to her, but then she smiled.

"You mean he knows that I'm Liberty Belle, and that I'm living in London right now?!" she asked eagerly, hope flooding across her face.

"He's Santa, sis, and Santa knows everything about every little boy and girl in the world."

"Then I guess I don't have anything to fear! He'll come for sure!"

"Actually, there is one thing that might keep old Kris Kringle from coming…"

"What?! What is it?!"

"You," said Trent teasingly, gently tapping the tip of her nose with his finger. "You, missy, are not asleep."

"Aww, but Trent—"

"No buts. It's already past nine o'clock. For all we know, Santa might come any minute, and if he sees that you're not asleep… Why, he might just fly over the base without stopping."

"Oh, no!"

"Exactly, that's why I suggest you go to your room, change into your pajamas, cuddle up with Pannie, and go to sleep."

"All right. Goodnight everybody! See you in the morning! Merry Christmas!"

It was impossible for her to have run any faster out of the room.

As soon as everyone was sure she was gone and out of earshot, Trent turned and faced everyone.

"Thank you all for helping me," he said appreciatively. "I doubt any of you can understand how much this meant to Jamie. Christmas was always a big deal in our house."

"Hey, no problem, sport," said Bucky, thumping him on the back.

Trent smiled. "Again, thank you. Now, if you all don't mind, a certain elf told me that old Saint Nick just may have left a couple presents for my sister hiding under my bed."

"Do you mind if I put my presents for Jamie under the tree, too?"

Trent looked over at Steve and blinked. "You got Jamie some presents?"

"Just two, one of which I intend to write off as a gift from Santa. Do you mind if I put them under the tree?"

Trent shook his head. "No, of course not, Rogers. Go ahead. And thank you in advance. I don't know what you may have gotten her, but really, thanks. I only had so much money to buy her just a handful of gifts, so if you got her some stuff, too, thank you very much. This Christmas may be small, but it'll make it even better for her."

"You got it," said Steve with a smile.

Early the next morning once everyone was up, Jamie ran to the tree while still in her pajamas and Pannie tucked under the crook of her arm. There weren't many presents under the tree, but there were presents. Jamie didn't care about the quantity. She just squealed loudly over the fact that Santa Claus had definitely visited the base and left presents at all.

"Look, Trent! Look!" she squealed excitedly as she bounced up and down and tugged on her older brother's arm. "You were right! Santa came! Just like you said he would!"

"I told you, didn't I? Have I ever been wrong, before?"

Jamie shook her head, and then ran and sat down at the base of the tree to unwrap her presents.

Trent pulled up a chair and sat down to watch her, as did Steve. He wanted to know if his protégé liked his gifts. The others adults discreetly stood around to watch. They didn't have to, but they wanted to. Jamie had slowly warmed the hearts of every military personnel on the base, what with her cheery little smile and happy-go-lucky personality. She was a special little girl, the kind that people once they got to know her a little better had immediately come to love. To see her looking so excited about opening her Christmas presents brought warmth to their hearts. With the war raging on, they'd all forgotten what simple human innocence looked like.

Jamie Elizabeth Harper brought just a touch of childhood innocence with her no matter where she went. It was just who she was as a person.

She squealed as she unwrapped the presents that Trent had labeled were from Santa. From 'Santa,' she received a pretty blue and white check dress similar to what Judy Garland had worn in _The Wizard of Oz_ movie, and a knockoff pair of the ruby slippers to go with it.

"Santa brought me Dorothy's dress and a pair of ruby slippers!" she cheered as she bounced up and down as she held the dress up against her tiny body and slipped both her feet into the red shoes. "The dress is so, so pretty! I can't wait to try it on later! And the shoes! I'm gonna look just like Dorothy when I put the dress on with them!"

The others glanced over at Trent. He was smiling as he watched the obvious joy on his little sister's face.

"I'm glad you like it, James, but what about my present? You haven't opened that, yet."

"Oh! Right!"

She set the dress and the shoes aside, and turned to open the only gift under the tree that Trent had listed as his own. It was a pretty box, and wrapped in pretty red wrapping paper with a green bow. Jamie untied the bow, tore away the wrapping paper, and lifted the lid of the box. Inside was—

"A little stuffed kitty!" Jamie squealed as she lifted a black stuffed cat about the same size as her panda plush doll out of the box. She hugged the new plush toy tightly, and then ran across the room to hug her brother. "Thank you, Trent! Thank you! She's so cute!"

"Oh, it's a 'she,' is it?" he asked teasingly.

"Of course she is! Just look at her! She's way too cute to be a boy kitty!"

"What are you going to name her?" asked Agent Carter, her smile stretched wide across her face as she watched the touching scene.

Jamie broke away from Trent and thought hard. After a moment, she looked back up at her.

"Gigi!" she proclaimed.

"Gigi?" asked a baffled Jones. "You know that that's a French name. I'd've thought you'd want little to do with France as possible, considering how much you really don't like Jacques."

"First of all, Gabe, I don't hate the French or Jacques! I just don't like the way he's always calling me short! That's degrading! And I happen to like the name Gigi! It's cute!"

"Yes, ma'am…"

She looked away from Jones, and down at Pannie. She held the panda in one hand, and her new cat Gigi in the other. "You hear that, Pannie? This is Gigi! She's gonna be our new playmate from now on! Isn't that wonderful?"

Everyone laughed as she hugged both of the toys to her chest.

"There's still two presents left, Jamie," said Trent. "You still have to unwrap those."

Steve sat up a bit straighter in his chair as Jamie sat back down on the floor and reached for the presents. By mere chance, the two presents left were from him.

She selected the present that he'd written was for her from Santa. It was a very tiny box. Only just bigger than for her to be able to hold it completely in the palm of her hand.

"Tiny," Jamie murmured, bringing the box to her ear and shaking it a bit. Whatever was inside rattled around a bit. "Santa left a really tiny gift…"

"Open it," said Steve with a smile. "See what he got you."

With a perplexed look, she nodded, and tore away the wrappings on the tiny package and opened the box. Her eyes widened when she held up the boxes contents for everyone in the room to see.

People stared, bewildered, at the roll of tape in her little hand.

"Tape?" asked Trent, completely confused.

"Tape…" Jamie repeated, a wonderstruck expression on her face as she realized what this meant. "Tape!"

She dropped the roll of tape and ran from the room as fast as she could.

As soon as she was gone, everyone turned to Steve.

"You got James a roll of _tape?"_

Steve smiled. "For a reason," he said.

He didn't get a chance to say anything else, because at that moment, Jamie ran back into the room, and in her hands was her paperback copy of _The Wizard of Oz,_ along with its ripped out page.

Trent stared, horrified, at the damage done to the book.

"Jamie!" he said in shock. "What have you done?! That book belonged to Mom when she was a kid! Did that mean so little to you that _you went ahead and ripped a page out of her book?!"_

"I didn't rip it!" she insisted. "It wasn't my fault! The kids back at the orphanage did it months ago! I've been meaning to tape it back together for ages, but I've just never had the time! But Santa knew! He brought me the tape so I can fix Mom's book!"

As she opened the book and put the ripped out page back in its place and began taping it back together, Trent turned to Steve. He was completely blown away by what Steve had done for her, and that he was not taking credit for it. He was letting her believe that Santa Claus had done this. Steve was most definitely a good man.

"Thank you," he whispered so Jamie wouldn't hear.

Steve didn't verbally reply, but he did smile briefly to Trent before turning to look down at Jamie. She had just finished taping it back together, and was holding it lovingly against her chest. She was so, so happy.

"One present left, J.J.," Steve called out. "My present."

Jamie looked up in surprise. "Really, Steve? You got me a present?"

"'Course I did. You got me a cake and a present on my birthday. Getting you a Christmas present was the least I could do in return."

Jamie smiled, and seized the last present under the tree. It was a small, thinly shaped square parcel. She tore apart the wrapping paper and stared at the revealed gift.

In her hands was a hardcover edition of J.M. Barrie's children's novel. _Peter Pan._

"You're always talking about how much you want to fly someday. I thought you might like it. I don't know if you own it or read it yet, but I figured—"

Steve was cut off when Jamie promptly bounded across the room, and almost knocked him out of his chair when she tackled him in a great bit hug.

"Thank you, Steve!" she said, wrapping her arms as tight as she could around his neck. "Thank you! Thank you! I've always wanted to read _Peter Pan!_ I've always wanted to read it! So, thank you! Thank you!"

Steve was momentarily stunned as he realized that this was actually the very first time that Jamie had hugged him. Sure, she climbed up on his back sometimes during missions, and he on occasion carried her around, but she'd never hugged him before, nor had he ever initiated a hug. He always showed her affection by either patting her head or shoulders, or ruffling her hair. Never before had she hugged him, but he was surprised by how much he was enjoying it.

With a soft smile, he gently wrapped his arms around his little protégé, and hugged her back.

"You're welcome. Merry Christmas, Jamie."

"Merry Christmas, Steve!"


	8. The Capture

**WARNING! WARNING! DARK THEMES AHEAD!**

 **The last of the happy-go-lucky stuff ended in the last chapter. This chapter is dark. Darker than anything I've ever written before. There's torture ahead, people. I've never written torture before. Before I start getting flames saying that people torturing a ten-year-old girl is out of character, I want to point out that this is happening during war, and Hydra is at its very root evil. I do believe that this is could happen to a kid in a war if the enemies believed that the kid had valuable information.**

 **You have been warned! I'm sure I'm going to lose readers over this chapter, but I hope not. Everything that happens in this chapter happens because it's necessary for Jamie's character growth, and something big I have planned in The Avengers. I do hope you're willing to look past this horrible chapter and will stay with the story, because this is the most evil that will ever befall Jamie. As of right now, I've not thought up anything worse for her than what happens in this chapter.**

 **As always, let me thank my reviewers:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My biggest fan!)**

 **\- BasicallyComplicated**

 **\- Cameo M. Wolf**

 **I hope you all do not hate me for this chapter and will stay with the Liberty Belle series. I'd hate me if I read this...**

 **Please, review when you're done!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: The Capture**

"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?"

"Yeah, and I threw up?"

"This isn't payback, is it?"

"Now why would I do that?"

The cold winds of late January blew through the air, and Jamie, ignoring Steve and Bucky's nervous words, shivered a bit in her dress as she stared down the ravine at the edge of the mountain. Today was important. Today, she had an all-time important mission to complete. Today, she, Steve, Bucky, Trent, and the rest of the Howling Commandos would be intercepting a Hydra train. The train itself wasn't important; it was one of the passengers that was. Arnim Zola. Hydra's top biochemist. He was currently on his way to one of the top Hydra research facilities, and because the American army had caught wind of his sudden travel plans, they needed to stop the train and capture him before he could pop off a cyanide pill like other Hydra agents had done before him. As the Red Skull's right-hand man, his capture could at last give them the last bit of information that they needed to stop Hydra once and for all: the location of the main Hydra base.

They'd actually received the news that Zola would be moving today just a couple weeks after Christmas. Christmas had been a very fun affair. After Jamie had unwrapped her presents, she'd changed out of her pajamas and into her new Dorothy dress and shoes, and ran all around the base for awhile with her new stuffed cat Gigi, which she'd temporarily renamed as Toto and pretended he was a little black dog ("Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore!"). When she grew tired of that, she curled up in a chair for a little while and quietly read a couple chapters of _Peter Pan,_ before proceeding to run all around the base again. It was actually amusing for everyone to see her dressed up as Dorothy Gale, while at the same having her arms outstretched like an airplane while playing pretend to fly like Peter Pan ("I'm never going to grow up! I'm gonna fly away to Neverland and become the very first Lost Girl!").

In the afternoon, she and Trent went outside the base for awhile, accompanied by Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos under the impression that they just 'happened' to want to go out and get some fresh air at the same time, and because they caught sight of Jamie and Trent building a snowman out in front of the base, they thought they'd just 'be nice,' and help build it. Jamie laughed the entire time as the balls were rolled up and plopped on top of each other, but after they'd added a carrot nose and two lumps of coal for its eyes, they'd asked her if she wanted a top hat for the head. She'd shaken her head.

"No, he needs a hardhat! He's a snow soldier, after all!"

The men had laughed, and an old military hard hat was placed on top of the snowman's head. Afterwards, the group then decided to play a quick, impromptu game of baseball in the snow with Trent's baseball and bat as the last rays of daylight died away. It had definitely been a very nice Christmas.

Now, though, it was back to business, and Jamie knew that the time for being a kid was over for now. For now, she had to go back to being Liberty Belle, and Liberty Belle had a mission to complete.

With another slight shiver, she ran her hands up and down the exposed skin of her arms and plopped down beside Trent on a small rock. Trent, who'd been checking the time on his pocket watch, quickly shut the lid of the device, and began helping her to rub herself down in an effort to warm her back up.

"Cold?" he asked.

"You've no idea," she muttered. "I wish this dress had sleeves. I'm gonna freeze like this!"

"The train will be coming any minute now. Fighting means movement, and movement will keep you warm."

"You think so?"

"I know so. It's basic survival knowhow. If you're out alone in the cold, do everything you can to keep moving. That'll keep you warm."

"Ah."

Jamie shivered again for a moment before continuing on.

"Trent, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why're you still carrying Dad's pocket watch with you on missions? I… I know that it's from Dad and everything and it's important to you, but you almost lost it back in November when Steve and I rescued you from that Hydra factory. Don't you think it'd be safer if you left it back at the base?"

"Yeah, it probably would be," he agreed, holding the silver antique device up by its chain. It glistened in the light of the sun. "Actually, I know you're one hundred percent right, but… but I just can't leave it there when I go out in the field like this."

"Why?"

He paused for a moment, trying to consider what to say so as to make his little sister understand.

"Well… think of it this way. If — God forbid — something were to happen to me, like I was shot or something, I'd want something of our parents with me right then. You were really close to Mom, sis, because you both loved the theatre. I was really close to Dad because we could bond together over baseball. Having this with me right now… it makes me feel as though Dad's right here, protecting and watching over me. Does that make sense?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "I guess so… but you can't keep talking negatively like that! You're birthday is in a couple days! You gotta think positive! You're going to be turning twenty!"

Trent smiled, and wrapped his arm around his little sister before planting a kiss on her loose brown hair. Indeed, in just a few short days from now, it would be January thirty-first, and Trenton Anthony Harper would be celebrating his twentieth birthday.

"Yeah, you're right, James. I shouldn't be so melodramatic, not when my birthday's coming up."

"Exactly! You have to stay positive! I know I'm excited! I'm going out to buy you a cake when we get back, after all!"

"Aw, come on… That's not necessary."

"Of course it is! It's your birthday! Birthdays are one of the most important days of the year in any one's life!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Though I do hope you will at least make sure to buy me a yellow cake."

"Yuck! Yellow cake's awful! Chocolate's a much better choice!"

"My cake, sis. My choice."

"Ugh! Fine…"

At that moment, the radio that Jim and Jones had been fiddling with to catch the radio frequency of the coming train began making sounds, and everyone quieted down so they could hear the message that the train was broadcasting.

"We were right," said Jones, pulling off his headphones and glancing over at the rest of the group. "Doctor Zola's on the train. Hydra dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he's going, they must need him bad."

Jamie and Steve quickly slipped on their mask and cowl as they got into position as everyone else began setting up the rope for the zipline. The timing of what they'd do next was very, very crucial. One slip up, and this entire mission would be botched.

Falsworth, who'd been busy watching out for the approaching locomotive with a pair of binoculars glued to the train tracks, quickly spied it coming around the bend. "Let's get going, because they're moving like the devil.

Jamie clung onto her torch tightly as she hopped up on Steve's back. He nodded to her briefly before proceeding to harness his and Jamie's pulley onto the overhead rope. She had to do this with Steve. They were all going to be racing against the clock so only a handful of them could sneak aboard the train before it passed. Since she was a child and could easily be carried by Steve on his back while ziplining down, it just made sense she should ride with him and save them all a few more extra seconds.

"We only got about a ten second window," Steve explained as Jamie wrapped both her arms around his neck as tight as she dared so she wouldn't accidentally start choking him. "You miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield."

Falsworth nodded, and glanced down uneasily at the hundred foot high ravine between them on the mountain and the train driving on the tracks.

"Mind the gap," he muttered apprehensively.

Dum Dum just laughed. "Better get moving, bugs!" he shouted.

Jamie swallowed thickly and nervously chuckled. She loved anything flying related, but even she had to admit that this scared her a bit. "Don't joke about that, Timmy! Wish us luck!"

No sooner had she said these words did Steve grasp the bar of the pulley tightly, and then leaped off the edge of the mountain, carrying her along for the ride down toward the moving train as he zip-lined down.

Jamie forced herself not to shut her eyes. It was hard to believe that a girl who had once skydived out of a plane and had felt no fear at the time was afraid to zipline, but it was the truth. She gripped Steve's neck tightly so she wouldn't fall. Behind her, she could hear Trent, Bucky, and Jones all ziplining down after them, but she did not dare to turn to glance over her shoulder at them. She just continued to cling onto Steve. She may have been genetically altered by Doctor Erskine's serum to be the perfect child super-soldier, but that didn't mean she couldn't die from over a hundred foot high drop into a ravine.

It felt like ages to Jamie, but in the span of a few seconds, Steve let go of the pulley on the zipline, and dropped, albeit somewhat clumsily, onto the roof of the train. Jamie forced herself to shake away her fear as their mission came back to her mind, and let go of him as he stood back up as Trent, Bucky, and Jones all dropped down behind them. Their plan was very simple. While Steve, Jamie, and Bucky all moved throughout the train and took care of any meddling Hydra agents, Trent and Jones would search the train for Zola, and capture him before he popped one of those cyanide pills.

Steve motioned for Jamie and Bucky to follow him to a small ladder leading down to a side door of the train. Wordlessly, as it would have been impossible to say anything to each other over the raging wind from the speed the train was moving, they all followed him down and through the door. Trent and Jones would have to find another way in. Separating into two groups increased their chances of getting this done quickly.

As soon as the three of them were all safely inside and out of the roaring wind, Bucky shut the door behind them, and they all took a good look around at their new surroundings. By the look of the place, it seemed like they had climbed into the cargo car. There were shelves all around them, stacked to the brim with all sorts of Hydra weapons and ammunition.

Very cautiously, Steve, Jamie, and Bucky moved forward toward the open door at the other end of the car. Each of them had their weapons raised in case a guard attempted to surprise them.

"This seems a little too easy," Jamie murmured quietly as they tiptoed forward.

"Careful, Libby. Don't let your guard down," Steve advised.

As the two super-soldiers passed through the open doorway first, however, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them, separating them from Bucky. The guards had set a trap, trying to keep the group split apart in an effort to make them weaker.

Almost immediately, the door on the other side of the cargo hold opened to reveal a rather large guard carrying an enormous Hydra weapon. He pointed it at Steve and Jamie and fired.

As Jamie scrambled to hide behind a rather large crate filled with weapons, Steve pulled his pistol out from the holster of his uniform and fired a few times before ducking down beside her to catch his breath.

"Get out your gun, Liberty," Steve ordered, hurrying to replace the bullets back into his pistol. From their spot, they could hear rapid gunfire coming from the cargo hole they were just in. Bucky must've been fighting himself against other guards.

Jamie vehemently shook her head, and gripped her torch tightly in protest. "I'll use my torch, thanks!" she snapped.

"You can't. We're on a train. You shoot off just one fireball and this whole train could explode. I know you don't like the guns, but at the very least shoot at his arms and legs."

Jamie didn't like the idea, but she knew Steve was right. With trembling fingers, she removed her tiny gun from its holster on her hip. She peeked over the top of the crate, and slowly fired off a round at the Hydra agent's leg. The guard dodged at the last second.

Slowly, the Dynamic Duo made their way forward as they continued to fire off more rounds, with Steve's amazing shield protecting them from the Hydra guards' bullets. As soon as they were close enough, Steve kicked him right in the chest, and as he stumbled backwards, Jamie proceeded to whack the back of his skull with the blunt end of her torch, effectively bringing him. With the guard finally out of the way, Steve grabbed the Hydra weapon he'd been carrying, aimed it toward the door where he and Jamie had previously come from, and fired away.

"Captain, what are you doing?" Jamie shouted.

"We need to help Bucky!" Steve answered, running to help his life long friend. "Come on!"

Jamie nodded, and took off after her mentor.

Upon reaching the second door which was still closed, Steve motioned for Jamie to hide in between the doorway and the wall on the opposing side of him so she wouldn't accidentally get shot once he unlocked the door. Jamie nodded, and pressed herself up against the wall and made herself as flat as possible. Steve nodded in approval, and quickly swung the door open. A couple bullets flew through the air, missing them both completely.

Bucky was currently crouching down behind a large mountain of crates filled with ammunition as he fired his machine gun at the Hydra agents. Or, at least he had been, as he suddenly clicked the trigger on his gun and nothing happened. He had used up the last of his bullets.

Steve only paused a moment to toss Bucky his own gun before charging into the train car. He slammed his entire body up against the shelf the Hydra agent had been hiding behind, and the Hydra agent was forced to come out into the open to avoid being crushed. Jamie flew in, and with another quick whack to the head with her torch, the guard fell to the ground, knocked out cold as a great deal of blood starting flowing from the spot where she struck him.

Bucky, although appreciative of their help, couldn't help but look playfully annoyed.

"I had him on the ropes," he said to Steve.

Steve grinned. "I know you did."

Jamie smiled, and turned around to tell them that she thought that they should keep moving, when she caught sight of the guard that she and Steve thought they'd successfully knocked out back in the other room. He was clutching his huge Hydra weapon, and aiming it right at all three of them.

"Get down!" she screamed, immediately dropping down onto the floor of the train car.

Steve and Bucky quickly whirled around to see what she was talking about. Upon seeing the guard, Steve immediately forced Bucky down and held up his shield to protect them all mere seconds before the guard fired the weapon. Blue energy zapped through the air, and although the attack bounced harmlessly off the shield, all three American soldiers had the wind taken out of them as the attack instead blew up the side wall of the train, creating a large, gaping hole that overlooked the dangerous snowy ravine of the mountain outside.

Bucky was the first out of the three of them to recover from the sudden explosion. He quickly grabbed Steve's shield, and scrambled back up to his feet again. Holding the shield out in front of him as a means of defense, he started firing off rounds at the oversized Hydra agent. The Hydra also fired again, and the mysterious blue energy hit the shield a second time. Had it been Steve or Jamie holding up the shield, nothing would have happened, but Bucky was not genetically enhanced. He was not a super-soldier. He was an ordinary man. He lost his balance from the force of the blast, and the shield slid from his fingers as he went flying out the hole in the train. He just barely managed to catch hold of a large, protruding piece of metal so as not to fall away into the deep abyss far below.

Upon seeing this, Steve hopped right back into action. He had to save his friend. He reached for his shield, and hurled it right at the Hydra guard. The guard fell backward from the force of the blow, knocked cold for real this time.

With the guard finally out of the picture, Steve rushed toward the hole and peered out. By some miracle, Bucky was still clinging onto that piece of metal.

As all this happened, Jamie sat up from where she'd fallen on the ground and watched it occur with wide, shocked eyes. She was horrified. She didn't want Bucky to die. She didn't know him as well as Steve did, obviously, but he'd always been very nice to her, and she knew he was a good friend of Trent's. She wanted to help, she really did, but she found she couldn't move. She was too shocked to move.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted, doing his best to climb out of the train slightly so as to reach him. He couldn't let Bucky die. He was his life long friend. He had to save him. He just had to. "Hang on!"

Bucky tried to say something back, but the train hit a bump on the track, and all he could do was yelp in fear. He was terrified. He didn't want to die. Not just yet. There were still so many things he wanted. So many places he still wanted to see.

"Grab my hand!"

Steve stretched out his hand to his friend. He could do it. He was close enough. He could pull him back on board. All Bucky had to do was reach out, and he'd be safe. His friend would be safe.

Ever so slowly, Bucky removed his right hand from the piece of metal he was clinging onto, and did his best to reach out toward Steve. Steve smiled. One more inch. Bucky just needed to reach out an extra inch and he'd be fine.

At that moment, the piece of metal Bucky was clinging onto for his life suddenly cracked, and it broke away from the rest of the train. Bucky screamed as he fell away from the train, the piece of metal still clutched tightly in his left hand as he dropped down into the faraway snowy depths.

"No!" Steve shouted, his eyes wide with horror, and his hand still outstretched, as though his friend could still somehow reach out toward him.

Jamie's jaw dropped. She was stunned. Completely stunned. Bucky was gone. Gone. The thought couldn't process in her head. How could he just be… gone? Just like that? Out of all the Howling Commandos, why did it have to be Bucky who'd died? Why him? Why the one person whose death would hurt her mentor the most?

It was a very long time before Steve found the strength to climb back inside the train. He did not look at Jamie. He couldn't. He was still in shock.

"Captain?" Jamie said slowly, getting back up on her feet. Still, Steve refused to look at her. "Captain… I'm so—"

" _Don't!"_ he said sharply, so sharp that Jamie actually took a step back. He'd never once raised his voice at her. _"Just… don't!"_

Her eyes somewhat fearful, she slowly nodded, and stayed silent. Her thoughts were reeling. Did Steve blame her? Did he blame Bucky's death on her? It'd make perfect sense if he did. While Steve did his best to try and climb out of the train to save Bucky, she'd just sat back and watched the whole thing happen. She didn't do anything. And it'd been her job to make sure that that guard had been knocked out. If she'd done her job right, he wouldn't have come back to his senses so quickly, and wouldn't have fired off the blast that sent Bucky flying out of the train car.

Had she finally disappointed Steve by failing to save his childhood friend? Did she let him down as his sidekick? Did he blame her for Bucky's death?

At that moment, Trent came running into the train car.

"Jones found Zola. He's tying the guy up now."

To his surprise, Steve and Jamie didn't answer him. Trent was puzzled, and was about to ask what was wrong, when he suddenly realized that there was one person missing in the train car.

"Where… where's Bucky?"

At his question, Jamie began crying, and ran up and hugged Trent. She was still so sad, and still confused. She was positive that Steve blamed her for Bucky's death. She really just wanted a hug.

Realizing the reason why Steve was so quiet and Jamie was clutching to him as she cried, Trent's eyes widened.

"No…" he whispered, hugging his sister back.

Jamie just cried harder than ever. She was responsible. Bucky was gone because she didn't do anything to try and help save him. He'd been Steve's friend, and Trent's. She shouldn't have just sat there while Steve tried to save him. She should have helped.

"You and Jones… you caught Zola?"

Trent looked away from Jamie and up at Steve. Steve's face was completely neutral as he struggled not to lose control of his emotions. He was the Captain of the squad, and he had to stay focused on their mission despite the death of his best friend.

Slowly, Trent nodded. "Jones' with him. He's forcing the train to stop."

"Good. We continue the mission. We stop the train, and regroup with the rest of the squad as soon as possible."

As he moved to leave the car and find Jones and Doctor Zola, Jamie broke away from Trent, and reached out to grab Steve's hand.

"Captain?" she said softly. "Captain, I'm sor—"

"Liberty!" he said, his voice short and cold as he shook her hand away. "Just… not now!"

He marched away without another word.

* * *

As the train came to a halt, Steve, Jamie, Trent, Jones, and Doctor Zola climbed out of the train car, the last one bound together with thick ropes to keep him from escaping, and with Jones' gun firmly pressed up against the small of his back so he wouldn't try anything funny. Despite Bucky's death, they had to follow the plan that'd been laid out earlier by Colonel Phillips. As soon as they caught Zola, they were to stop the train, and make their way towards the nearest clearing and use a transponder to call for retrieval. The other Howling Commandos would come as fast as they could in one of Howard's planes to collect them. They couldn't take any chances. Doctor Zola was an important prisoner. They needed to get him back to base immediately.

As they made their way through the snowy forest at the base of the mountain, everything was very silent. Steve showed no signs of wanting to talk to anyone, nor did anyone try to say anything to him. They knew he had to be hurting. Trent and Jones were so focused on him and Zola that they barely even looked at Jamie.

Had the other adults been paying attention, they would have seen how upset she was, and how she only barely managing to keep up with them since she was just dragging her feet through the snow as she walked. She was still under the impression that Steve blamed her for Bucky's death. She wanted to say something to him, to tell him that she was sorry that she didn't do more to help him, but every time she opened her mouth, she remembered the way he'd glared and snapped at her back on the train, and she'd quickly shut it again. She hated the way he had looked at her.

So she kept silent, and clutched her metal torch in one hand, and Trent's hand with her other. She just wanted to go home and forget everything that had happened today.

A sudden rustling in the wind caught her ears, and she looked over her shoulder at some nearby bushes. Everything seemed fine. Nothing moved in the shadows. Perhaps their group just spooked a rabbit, or maybe she just imagined the sound. It was nothing to worry about.

She was just about to shrug her shoulders and turn her head back around so as to look forward again and see where she was walking, but then she heard it again. Rustling in the trees. She abruptly stopped and was now focusing all her attention on the nearby trees. She knew she didn't imagine that this time.

"Liberty?" asked Trent, stopping when he felt her hand slip away from his. The others came to a halt when they realized that Jamie wasn't following. "Liberty, what're you—?"

"Did you hear that?" she interjected, her highly advanced eyes scouring the trees for any sign of disturbance.

"Hear what?" asked Steve tonelessly, his thoughts not really in the moment, but still back in the train car with Bucky.

"In the trees. There's something out there…"

That got Steve's attention, and he forced himself to focus. "Are you sure?"

"I know what I heard!" she insisted. She didn't say anything else after that. She just silently listened and searched anxiously through the cover of the trees to find the source of the sound. It definitely hadn't been an animal; it had been too loud of a sound for any animal to make.

For a full minute no one spoke. Jamie had a determined look in her eyes as she scoured the tree line. She was just starting to think that maybe whatever had made the noise had left, when she finally saw it. Hiding in the shadows of several trees was a Hydra guard.

" _There!"_ she screamed, and she ran off to battle against the guard, who was quickly fleeing into the shadows of the trees.

"Liberty! No!" shouted Steve. They'd been given explicit orders not to engage in battle if they came across an enemy platoon after they caught Zola unless battle could not be avoided. It was too risky to fight with Doctor Zola with them. They had to deliver him into custody as safely and quickly as possible. But Jamie had forgotten those orders, and was already disappearing into the trees.

Steve bit his lip. He wanted to help his protégé out. He really did, but he had to get Zola to the retrieval point. He wasn't sure what to do.

As it turned out, he didn't have to decide, as Trent was already rushing after his little sister.

"You two get Zola to the clearing! I'll get my sister!" he shouted out over his shoulder as he ran.

Steve nodded. It was really all he could do. They had to finish the mission. With a nod toward Jones, they started rushing to get to the retrieval point. The sooner they dropped off Zola into American custody, the sooner they could help Jamie and Trent.

Steve could only pray that by that time it would not be too late.

* * *

Jamie tore wildly through the trees as she chased after the Nazi spy. She had to get him. She had to stop him. It wasn't just because of the mission that she had to do this. She had to do it for herself. She had to prove to Steve that although she may have been the reason why Bucky died, she wasn't useless. She could still be a good sidekick.

If she single-handedly caught this Hydra spy, maybe Steve would like her again. He'd be so proud of her. He'd forgive for what happened with Bucky. If she caught the spy, he wouldn't keep glaring at her. He'd obviously still be sad about what happened with Bucky, but he would at least smile at her again. That was all she wanted. She wanted him to be proud of her.

But none of that could happen without that guard. She had to stop him.

The guard scrambled behind a particularly large boulder in a desperate attempt to get away from the child super-soldier. He was definitely running out of breath. Jamie smirked at the thought. This was going to be easy. She wouldn't even have to use any fireballs with this guy. One sharp blow to the back of his head, and he'd be history. Steve would be so proud of her.

She sprinted around the rock, her torch high over her head and ready to strike, but when she saw what was just beyond the tall rocks, she completely froze.

The Hydra guard hadn't been running from her. He'd been herding her.

There were over twenty Hydra officers on the other side of the rock.

"Look what I lead back, boys," said the Hydra guard she'd been chasing, a smirk quite audible in his voice.

Jamie snapped out of her shock. She had to get out of there. Now. She couldn't handle this many Hydra guards at one time. If she were with Steve or maybe a couple of the other Howling Commandos, maybe she could, but not alone. She wasn't strong enough on her own.

She turned on her heel, and tried to bolt away.

"Stop her!" cried another guard.

Before she moved more than a couple of yards, she was tackled to the ground by at least three of the other guards.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked, thrashing in a desperate attempt to get away. Her torch flew out of her hands during the struggle, and fell somewhere into a series of nearby bushes.

"Not a chance, kid," said one the guys that forced her to the ground. He held a gun to her head, and Jamie immediately stilled, her dark brown eyes wide with fear. "Didn't your Mommy and Daddy ever teach you not to wander off alone? You're currently worth over a million Euros' to _Herr_ Schmidt. We want that paycheck."

Jamie's slowly began to water. She had never been so terrified in her entire life. She was getting kidnapped. They were going to take her to the Red Skull. Who knows what was going to happen to her now.

As the guards brought out a series of chains to bind her up in so she wouldn't struggle and break free thanks to her enhanced strength, Trent came bursting around the rock.

"Liberty! Liberty! What the hell do you think you're—"

He cut himself off when he saw the entire platoon of Hydra guards.

"Holy shit…"

"Test Subject 32557037," said one of the guards, his glinting evilly as he caught sight of Trent. He seemed to be the leader. He raised his pistol, silently taunting Trent to try and take one more step. "What a surprise… A _very_ welcome surprise…"

Trent snapped out of his shock. Jamie was in trouble. He had to protect her. She was his little sister. He'd die before he let these bastards take her.

"Get your filthy hands off her!" he roared.

He charged forward, forgetting all about the gun aimed at him. He'd kill all these men with his bare hands if he had to. So long as he lived and breathed, he would protect Jamie. He would protect her until his dying day.

The men easily out numbered him, though, and soon he too was on the ground, slowly being fitted with a pair of handcuffs. As Trent struggled against his captors, Jamie began to scream.

"No! Please! Don't hurt him! Don't hurt him!"

"Sounds like little Miss Liberty Belle has some sort of an attachment to 32557037," said the leader, intrigued.

" _Captain!"_ Jamie screamed. She was screaming at the top of her lungs. Only Steve could help them now. If she screamed loud enough, he'd come running. _"Captain America! Help! Please! Help—!"_

She was cut off by the leader hitting her against the back of her head with the butt of his gun. She screamed in pain as blood gushed out of the wound. Her entire head throbbed from the force of the blow. The leader bent down, and grabbed Jamie by the collar of her dress to force her up onto her feet. Jamie, unable to move a single muscle because of how tightly the guards had bound the chains around her, had no choice but to comply. Her vision was a tad bit disoriented after the whack to her head, but she was still conscious and could still focus

"If you wish 32557037 dead, then by all means, scream for your precious Captain America," he told the terrified Jamie. "A clean shot through the head. He'd be dead before he even hit the ground."

"Scream, Libby!" Trent shouted, his eyes wide with fear for his only sister as he continued to struggle against the men still trying to detain him. He didn't care that her screaming would result in his death. He wasn't important. She was. Not just because she was his only sister, but because she was also Liberty Belle. Her life had more value than his did. "Scream! Don't worry about me! Just scream! Scream—"

"Gag him!" the leader ordered. Several guards forced a long piece of cloth into Trent's mouth. Trent continued to struggle as they tied it off at the back of his head, but he was unable to do anything, nor could communicate any more with Jamie, what with his mouth sealed off and his hands bound.

"Stop! Please, stop!" Jamie pleaded, tears streaming down her face from both pain and worry for her older brother. "Please! Don't hurt him! Don't hurt Trent!"

"If you wish him to stay unharmed, then you will stay silent the entire time we take you two back to our tanks. You're both coming with us."

And with that, he began to drag the poor little girl behind him by her hair through the forest. Jamie whimpered from the hair pulling, and there were many times she tripped over her own feet, but she did as the leader said and stayed quiet. She would not risk them hurting Trent.

Trent, however, was not so compliant. He screamed through his gag at Jamie, and twisted and struggled the entire time they walked. He had to get free. He had to save her.

"Stop it! Trent!" Jamie cried when she saw the guards hit him again because of his struggles. He groaned in delirious pain. "Stop! Don't hurt him! You said you wouldn't hurt him!"

"Knock her out!" the leader ordered. "I refuse to listen to her crying!"

There was a sharp blow to the back of Jamie's head by one of the guards, and the whole world went dark.

* * *

"Are you sure they ran this way, Steve?"

"Positive. We were all standing right back there with Zola when Jamie took off and Trent ran after her. It was right back there. I know they ran this way."

Upon reaching the rally point with Zola; Steve and Jones quickly activated their transponder. The rest of the squad had arrived in the plane, but upon discovering Jamie, Trent, and Bucky missing, they'd asked what was going on. Steve was then forced to explain everything, of how Bucky was dead, and that Jamie took off on her own after a lone Hydra guard, and Trent followed her. He and Jones would've gone after them, but they had to get Zola onto the plane, first.

Now that Zola was on board, though, Steve could double back to look for them. Jones naturally went along, too, as did Jim, and to the rest of the group's surprise, Jacques volunteered to go along, too.

Jim huffed as he lagged along slightly in the group. The four of them had been searching for over twenty minutes now for Jamie and Trent, but they'd yet to find a single trace of either of them.

"They're nowhere to be seen…" he muttered.

"I know that they ran this way!" Steve insisted. "Jones! You saw it! Tell him this is the right away!"

"He's right, Jim," Jones nodded. "The Captain's right. I was there. I saw it. Trent and Jamie definitely went this way."

"Well, then where the hell are they?! We can't keep on wandering through these woods until—"

He was cut off by Jacques suddenly shouting something in French. The others looked over at him. He'd wandered away from the others a bit, and was standing beside a huge boulder. He was looking beyond it, his eyes wide with shock.

"Jacques!" shouted Steve as he ran up to him. Jim and Jones quickly followed him. "Jacques! Did you find them? Are they both all—"

Steve's words died away when he saw the area on the other end of the boulder.

The white snow on the ground was greatly disturbed, as though many people had been walking through the area, and it was stained by traces of deep, rich blood.

"What the hell…?" he whispered. He was very scared now.

Where was Jamie?

Where was Trent?

Were they okay?

If they were, why didn't they walk back to the plane?

If they weren't, were they somehow hurt?

Were they even still alive?

Each question reeled in his head, and he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know the answers to them.

"Captain!" shouted Jones suddenly.

Steve forced himself to turn around. Jones was over by a group of bushes, and in his hands was Jamie's torch.

Steve's blood ran cold. They'd taken her. Hydra had taken her. Her and Trent. His young protégé had been kidnapped by their worst enemies.

* * *

Jamie came to when the back of someone's hand struck her across her face.

"Wake up!" someone shouted.

Jamie groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Her cheek hurt, but she didn't focus on that pain. She was in a dark, dimly lit cell. How she got in a cell, she could not remember for the life of her, but from what she could gather, there were three Hydra guards standing in front of her and one of them was definitely the leader from the group that had captured her earlier, though he had Trent's pocket watch tied around the loop of his belt. Speaking of her older brother, she could see Trent in a cell of his own directly across from her own. He had definitely taken a beating. His right eye was black and blue, and his nose was all puffed up and squashy looking.

Jamie gasped when she saw his appearance. What had they done to him?

"Trent!" she screamed. She didn't care what the guards in front of her would do to her. She tried to stand up and run to him. He needed her right now, but more importantly, she needed him. She was terrified. She wanted her brother to hug her and assure her that everything would be okay, that Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos would be here any minute. If he did that, she'd believe it. Trent had never lied to her before.

However, upon trying to get back up on her feet, she found she couldn't move. She couldn't move her legs, or either of her arms. She couldn't move a single muscle in any of her limbs. She was confused. What was going on? Why couldn't she move?

She looked down at her body, but quickly gasped. She was sitting in some kind of strange chair bolted down upon the floor of the cell, and thick heavy chains were wrapped around her and the chair. She whimpered and tried to break free, but the chains were bound too tight. She whimpered again. Louder. It was all but impossible to move, but she kept struggling. It was pointless, her common sense told her, but a fight-or-flight reaction had sparked up from deep inside Jamie, and every instinct in her body was telling her to struggle as hard as she could so she could get free, or else she was going to be killed by these Hydra guards.

The Hydra squad leader laughed mockingly at her attempts to get loose. "You can struggle as much as you want, Miss Liberty Belle, but it's no use. Those chains are far too thick."

Jamie ignored him. She just kept struggling. She didn't care what he had to say.

The Hydra commander was not pleased by her refusing to acknowledge him, though, and reeled back his fist, and brought it down against her cheek.

Unlike the time where Nick hit her, this punch was not holding back strength. Nick hit her with just enough force to bruise her, and only bruise her. The Hydra commander hit her hard enough that she felt blood enter her mouth.

She yelled out in pain.

"Don't you touch her!" Trent shouted. Unlike her, he was not chained up as he was not an enhanced super-soldier with amazing strength, and he leapt up onto his feet and began rattling the bars of his cell. "You hurt her, fuckers, and I swear to God! I'll—"

"Quiet, please, Test Subject 32557037," said the leader carelessly, not even bothering to look over at Trent as he spoke. "Your turn shall come later."

Jamie spat the blood out the last of the blood in her mouth, and looked up fearfully at the Hydra guard in charge.

"W-what do you w-want with us?" she stuttered, very much terrified. "W-what do you w-want? I-Is this a trap f-for the C-Captain?"

"You, Miss Liberty Belle, are currently worth a lot to _Herr_ Schmidt. Any Hydra team that manages to bring either you, or your precious Captain America to our leader is guaranteed a definite raise in salary. However, my squad and I have decided to neglect telling our precious leader that we have you for the moment."

"W-what?"

"We all reached a unanimous decision concerning what to do with you. You see, we want something better than what our leader has offered us. We want promotions in Hydra, but the only way to get that is to offer up something more than just you and one of Hydra's escaped test subject's. We all agree that you are a valuable member of the United States Army, as well as a high ranking one. One who is of such high rank must know a thing or two about the battle plans concerning the attacks on our Hydra bases." He leaned down, and grinned maliciously at the little girl sitting in front of him, staring at him with fear in her eyes. "Tell us everything you know about those attack plans, Miss Liberty Belle."

Jamie gulped. The truth was, she actually didn't know anything about that. She may be Liberty Belle, and she was officially a First-Class Lieutenant in the United States Army, but she was just a kid. Steve, Colonel Phillips, and Agent Carter had all agreed that there was no point talking strategy plans with her, especially because most of those meetings happened during the time she had lessons with her private tutor. She couldn't help them.

"I… I don't know anything," she whimpered.

The leader growled, and struck her across the face again. She yelped in pain.

"For fuck's sake! She's just a child! A little girl!" Trent was screaming. He was still rattling the bars to his cell. "There are rules to how you treat prisoners of war! Follow those rules, Goddammit!"

Jamie looked up a bit at that. There were rules to how prisoners of war were supposed to be treated? She never knew that.

She didn't have time to dwell on the thought though, as the Hydra guard in charge was now seething at his words.

"Test Subject 32557037, while you are also of great value to Hydra and _Herr_ Schmidt, I suggest you quiet down. You are currently of little interest to me, but unless you wish to die a very painful death, stay silent. You are making me angry, and you will not like me when I'm angry."

"Go right ahead!" Trent growled. "I'll die a thousand times over if it means I can protect her!" He continued jumping hard against the old, rusting bars to his cell. They rattled furiously from the force of each jolt.

The Hydra guard continued to glare at him, but then he snapped his fingers. The other two guards in the cell snapped to attention. He pulled the ring of keys to the cell doors out from the loop of his belt, and dropped it into one of the other guards' hands.

"Teach him a lesson."

The two lackeys nodded, and exited Jamie's cell.

" _No!"_ Jamie wailed as they unlocked Trent's cell door. Trent didn't care that it would cause him to receive the beating of his life. He tried to force his way past the guards and get to his sister. The guards shoved him back, and began pounding on him. "No! Please! Don't hurt him! Don't hurt him! Don't hurt Trent!"

"If you don't want him to be hurt, Miss Liberty Belle, you will tell us what we want to know," the leader hissed.

"B-but… I told you! I don't… I don't know!"

The leader struck her again. As Jamie squealed in pain, Trent screamed.

"Leave her alone!" he screamed between his own shouts of pain as the two guards continued to hit him. "For God's sake! Leave her alone!"

The Hydra guards ignored him, though the man hitting Jamie stepped away from the girl, and she cried as he moved to stand beside the cell wall.

"If you're not going to be honest with us with minor types of persuasion," he began, "then let's see how you do with more… _jolting_ types of persuasion."

Jamie looked up at him with fearful eyes. He was running his hand along a panel on the wall she hadn't noticed before, and he grinned wickedly at her before pressing one of the buttons upon it.

Immediately, great volts of electricity was jolting up from the chair Jamie was chained down to, and coursing throughout her entire body. The electricity was zapping every inch of her, and every part of her body vehemently convulsed in horrible pain. Her hands. Her arms. Her legs. Her feet. Even her own head. It was maddening.

Jamie couldn't stop herself. She _screamed._

* * *

Upon return to the American base back in London, all the military personnel in the building had gone from being gracious and excited about the capture of Doctor Armin Zola, to being sad and mournful of the death of Sergeant James Barnes, and then finally shocked and in an uproar upon learning about the disappearance of the Harper siblings. All thoughts about Zola were immediately forgotten. The Colonel simply threw him in prisoner of war cell before rushing to the nearest radio. He was currently calling in every favor that he was owed from the other leaders in the United States Army in an effort to successfully find and bring Jamie home. As much as it pained everyone to say it, Trent was expendable, but Jamie was not. They'd needed to find her as soon as possible.

The United States Army was not the only one's looking for her. Every Allied force in all of Europe was currently being told to keep one eye open for her, and if they were to come across any type of Hydra platoon, they were to do everything they could to detain at least one member before he could pop off a cyanide pill, and then deliver him immediately to the American base in London for questioning. Although Jamie Elizabeth Harper was only a child soldier in the American army, she was Liberty Belle, the super-child sidekick to Captain America. She played a vital role in the war against the Axis Powers. She needed to be found.

One man however in the American Army was currently not doing anything he could to help in locating the Child Soldier of Tomorrow right then. He was currently sitting in a small pub down the street from the American base. The entire place was deserted, and the only other person inside the bar was the owner, who was currently somewhere in the back room. The owner personally didn't care that the young blonde officer in the United States Army had been here for over three hours now, constantly ordering bottles after bottles of scotch and whisky. While he didn't understand how the man was still lucid and not passed out drunk at his table after the third bottle, he also didn't really care. Whatever got him upset was making him stay and keep drinking. He'd obviously lost someone today out there. Whatever it was that got him such a right tizzy, it was giving him good business. He'd even told the man to help himself to anything behind the bar while he left for a moment, just that he'd better not leave until he got back so he could be sure to pay.

Steve was very appreciative to the owner, and continued trying to drown out his memory of everything that happened today with the hard liquor. Losing Bucky was hard enough on him, but now Jamie was missing, too. She and Trent were currently in Schmidt's hands. Who knows what type of hell she was going through right now.

He drained his glass of scotch, and slammed it down on the surface of the table as he ran his fingers through his hair. Why oh why did he not go after her when she ran off? Had he gone with her, she'd still be here. She'd be _here._ Safe and sound. Sure, Bucky would still be gone, and he'd be upset about it, but at least his little protégé would be all right. Jamie was such a sweet little girl. She did not deserve whatever torments those Hydra agents were probably inflicting upon her as he sat here right now and drank.

Hell, why had he been so cold to her even right before she was taken? He'd been in shock about what happened to Bucky. Shock, and he also remembered being sad and angry that he was just gone, but he should not have taken it out on her. She just… she was about to start talking about his lifelong friend. About to start _consoling_ him about Bucky's death and… and he just couldn't handle it. Not right then. Not while they were still technically on a mission. Had she have continued talking, he would've completely lost his focus, and despite Bucky's death, he needed to stay clear-headed, so he did the only thing he could think of in that moment to shut her up, and that was _snap_ at her.

What he wouldn't give now to turn back the clock and stop himself from doing that. Hell, if he could go back in time, not only would he have stopped Jamie from running off on her own to catch that Hydra guard, he'd do everything he could to prevent Bucky from dying, too.

He grabbed the nearest bottle of scotch, refilled his shot glass, and drank the entire thing in one gulp. He wanted so badly to forget everything that had happened today.

There was suddenly a small sound of footsteps from somewhere behind him. Steve turned, expecting to see the pub owner returning from whatever he'd been doing in the back room, but instead, he saw Agent Carter slowly entering the pub.

Steve blanched immediately upon seeing the woman enter. He didn't want her to see him like this. Not right now. Not while he was currently in the middle of blaming himself over what had happened to Jamie and Bucky by pretending that he was still a normal man that could drown his sorrows in alcohol.

He wanted to tell her to please leave and let him just be alone, but pushing someone away today led to the disappearance of one of the most important people in his life. So instead, he slowly turned back around to look at the surface of the table he was siting at, and began to speak in monotone as he grabbed his glass and the bottle of scotch again, and refilled his drink.

"Doctor Erskine said that the serum wouldn't just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. It'd create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which means…" he paused, swallowing thickly on his next cold hard words of truth before continuing. "I can't get drunk."

He took a sip of his drink, and then looked back over his shoulder at the woman he had long since fallen in love with.

"Did you know that?"

Agent Carter fully entered the bar, selected a chair at another table, and brought it over to Steve's single table in the center of the room. She sat down across from him.

"Yours and Jamie's metabolisms burns four times faster than the average person," she carefully replied. "He thought it could be one of the side effects."

Steve flinched when he heard her say Jamie's name out loud, and stared sadly down at the wooden surface of the table. Why the hell did she have to mention her? Couldn't she see that that little girl was part of the reason why he was even here right now? He didn't want to think about her, of how he'd failed to protect her. Had he just followed her today, she'd still be okay. She'd still be safe.

Receiving no reply from Steve, Agent Carter continued.

"It wasn't your fault."

Steve didn't look at her. He really had no idea who she was talking about right now. Bucky, or Jamie and Trent? Either way she was wrong. Bucky was gone because he hadn't been fast enough to reach out of that train car for him, and Jamie and Trent were currently missing because he'd still been in shock over Bucky's death, and then went and put the mission ahead of his protégé's safety, thereby forcing Trent into a position of running off after her. Her safety should have been his top priority, not the mission.

"Did you read the report?" he asked dully.

"Yes."

"Then you know that's not true."

"You did everything you could," she insisted.

Steve didn't look at her. Agent Carter frowned. She would not let Steve continue to sit here and blame himself over everything that had occurred. Somehow, she had to convince that although Bucky was gone, things were going to be okay, and that they would somehow find Jamie and Trent. Whatever horrors that that little girl was facing right now, she was probably hoping that Steve would show up at minute and rescue her. Her and her older brother. She needed her mentor to save her, but that would not happen so long as Steve continued to sit here and kept drinking himself into pretend oblivion.

She tackled the easier matter first.

"Did you believe in your friend?" she asked. "Did you respect him?

Steve slowly nodded.

"Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought you were worth it."

Silence filled the pub as Steve considered her words.

"As for everything that happened with Jamie—"

"Peggy," he interrupted, his eyes turning dark as he forced himself not to cry. "Don't."

"I will not allow you to beat yourself over this matter. What happened with Jamie is something no one could have foreseen."

"I let her go off alone. I should've stopped her, or at the very least ran after her."

"She's waiting for help. Wherever she is right now, she's counting on you to come and save her. You can't just sit here and blame yourself about her capture. Not when she needs you."

Steve slowly raised his head. She was right. He knew she was right. Wherever his young apprentice was at the moment, she was counting on him to find and rescue her. He had to pull himself together.

"We're gonna find her," he said firmly, clutching the shot glass in his hand tightly as he spoke. "We _will_ find her… And then I'm going after Schmidt. I'm not gonna stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured."

Agent Carter smiled. She was so relieved that Steve had found his resolve again.

"You won't be alone."

* * *

"We'll try again tomorrow with you, Miss Liberty Belle. Maybe then you'll feel nice enough to tell us the answers we need."

The Hydra guards all laughed as they exited Trent and Jamie's cells, and left the cellblocks with conceited grins on their faces.

Jamie waited until they were gone before the light tears streaming down her cheeks turned into full fledge sobs. This had single-handedly been the very worst day of her entire life. Every inch of her body was in pain. On top of the pain from being consistently jolted with over two thousand watts of electricity periodically all afternoon whenever she was unable to answer the questions that the leader of this Hydra platoon would consistently ask her, each of the guards — once they stopped beating Trent — then took turns whacking her.

At first, they only dared to strike her face, but after awhile, everyone in the cellblock — including Jamie herself — had been amazed to discover that her body was slowly healing itself. The bruises on her skin had slowly faded back to nice, pretty peachy skin. The regenerative healing process from the serum had kicked in. Having discovered that they could beat her for information as much as they liked without consequences, the Hydra guards didn't hold back. They didn't care that the person they were hitting was just a little ten-year-old girl. This was Hydra. They were the bad guys, and this was war. To them, Liberty Belle was part of the good guys. She was a member of the United States Army and Captain America's sidekick. They didn't care how much they hit her, or how much she screamed.

Jamie wailed. She couldn't believe they hit her so hard that they'd actually managed to break most of the fingers in her left hand as well as couple of her ribs. She knew that after the serum injections, her bones were harder, denser. The fact that the Hydra guards had managed to fracture them meant they'd really hit her hard. Every part of her body hurt. Not even when she was enduring Doctor Erskine's experiment or when she'd been in the car crash that had killed her parents and orphaned her and Trent had she hurt this much. She wanted nothing more than to die. She could only hope that her enhanced body would heal the fractures soon.

"Jamie?" Trent called out softly from his cell. Despite his screams at the guards earlier in a meager effort to get them to leave his sister alone, he wasn't nearly hurt as bad as she was. He had no broken bones other than the fracture in his nose. Just a couple of sore areas that would probably be showing fresh bruises tomorrow. "Jamie? Look at me."

Slowly, Jamie lifted her head and stared across the way at Trent.

"You know, the kids back at the orphanage always used to tell me I'd end up in the electric chair one day. They said that's where I'd end up since I was crazy," she murmured. "I wanna go back home, Trent, when we get out of here. Not back there! I wanna go home!"

"Don't worry. I'm gonna get us home!"

He immediately leapt up on his feet, and began fiddling with the bottom part of one of the bars to his cell.

Despite still being in mind-numbing pain, Jamie stared at him, puzzled. "W-what're you doing, Trentie?"

"The reason why I kept antagonizing them back there was so that I'd have a reason to keep hitting this one bar," he explained, repeatedly thumping it. It rattled a bit, and to Jamie's complete surprise, jiggled a bit out of place, too. "It's a bit loose. If I can get it free, I can slip out, but it might take a bit of time; I just need to time it perfectly when I slip out so that I can do it while a guard change is happening, then I can knock him out and get the keys from him to bail you out, too!"

Despite still being chained up to the electric chair and being in pain from its powerful volts and broken bones, Jamie couldn't help but feel her spirits lift as hope filled her.

"Y-you… you think you can get us out of here?!" she asked eagerly.

"I don't _think_ I can do it, sis. I _know_ I can do it. Because I'm sure as hell not just gonna sit here on my ass and let them fucking beat the shit out of you, or let them continue to shock with that goddamn fucking chair!"

Despite her pain, Jamie frowned at his language.

"Trent, please! Don't—"

"No, Jamie, I'm gonna swear," he said firmly, not even looking at her as he kept trying to pry the bar loose. It jiggled a bit, but still remained firmly in place. "I want you to hear my swears. You need to understand how much I'm determined to get you out of here. If it were just me stuck here, I wouldn't care that much. That's why I never tried to escape when Hydra caught me a couple months ago, but I'm sure as hell am _not_ just sit on my ass if you're here, too! I'm getting you out!"

"If we're gonna escape, what's our plan?" Jamie asked. "We'll have to do it while a guard change is happening. And what about Dad's pocket watch? That one guard took it from you! We can't leave here without it!"

Trent paused in his workings. For a long time, he did not speak.

"I'm going to work on this bar all night if I have to," he said slowly. "If I'm lucky, I'll have it loose by some time tomorrow. Once it's loose, we'll wait for the guard rotation at night. Whoever's in charge of watching us will have the keys to your cell and to those chains. I'll rush out and pummel him until he's knocked out and then free you. We'll take his guns, lock him up in your cell, and then try to sneak out, but if we're discovered, we'll fight our way out of this base. We'll run east."

"East?"

"They knocked you out when they captured us, but they didn't do it to me. I saw the way they took us. We're someplace west of where we were before we got captured. We'll run east. Through the forest back to that spot. Someone from the army is bound to be looking for us around that area."

"But what about Dad's pocket watch? Where's that in the plan?"

"Jamie, as much as it pains me to say it, we may be forced to leave it behind."

" _What?!"_

"Jamie, I know it was our Dad's and that it's an heirloom in our family, but believe me! That watch doesn't mean a goddamn thing to me compared to making sure you get out of this place alive! You're my little sister, and I'll die before I let those bastards hurt you again!"

"What about you?! You said so long as _I_ get out! Aren't you coming, too?!"

Again, Trent paused in his work on the bar.

"Of course," he said. "Of course I'm coming. I wouldn't leave you."

Jamie breathed a deep breath of relief.

"Good. You scared me for a minute there."

Trent smiled at her, and then kept working on the bar.

"Like I said, I might need twenty-four hours to work on this bar. I hate to ask this of you, James, but can you deal with another of those beating sessions? They're going to beat you again for information that you don't have. They're going to electrocute you again. I'm sorry to ask this of you, sis, but can you handle it?"

"Just one more session, right? I only have to deal with just one more session?"

"I'll have finished this by tomorrow."

"Then I can handle it."

* * *

Steve stood beside Agent Carter in front of the one-way glass window mirror. He wanted so badly to be the one who'd be doing this interview. He'd make the fucker talk. If not by niceties, than with his fists if need be.

It had been exactly twenty-four hours since Jamie and Trent's disappearance. Every minute that ticked past was a minute wasted. That's why Colonel Phillips had arranged for an immediate interview with Doctor Zola. Unless they, the American Army, or if by some miracle one of their allies managed to catch and detain another Hydra agent before he could pop a cyanide pill, Zola was currently their only chance at finding out where Trent and Jamie could be. They had to make him talk.

Upon learning that they would be interrogating the biochemist, Steve had immediately volunteered to be the interrogator, but Colonel Phillips quickly shot down his request with a shake of his head.

"You're too involved, Rogers," the Colonel explained. "You're too close to the Harper siblings. Particularly Lieutenant Harper. She's your sidekick. Emotions would run wild. You'd lose your temper."

Steve hadn't been pleased, but he'd nodded in agreement. Phillips would be the one to do the interview. If it had to be anyone other than him interrogating Zola, he was glad it was the Colonel. The Colonel was probably the only one on base other than himself who would not take no for an answer when it came to finding out where Trent and Jamie were being held.

Agent Carter gently touched his arm. He turned to look at her.

"We're going to find her, Steve," she told him gently. "Colonel Phillips will make him crack."

Steve nodded to her. She was right. They'd make Zola talk.

The door to the cell opened, and Zola was led inside the interrogation room. He stood inside for a moment and looked around a bit. It was a tiny, whitewashed cell containing only a cot in the back corner, and a desk in the exact center of the room with two chairs. One on either side of it. One for the prisoner to sit on, and the other for the interrogator to sit on.

The door opened a second time, and Zola turned to look at it. The guard had just let Colonel Phillips enter. To Zola's surprise — and Steve's — he was carrying a few papers and a tray. A tray with a glass of milk and a steak and potato dinner.

" _Steak?!"_ Steve growled, clutching his fists tight when he saw it. "He's giving Zola _steak?!"_

"The Colonel knows what he's doing, Steve," Agent Carter assured him. "Trust him."

Begrudgingly, Steve nodded, and watched Phillips as he set the tray down on the table.

"Sit down," Phillips ordered Zola.

Slowly, Zola sat down in one of the chairs. Phillips sat down on the chair opposite, and slid the tray closer to the biochemist.

Zola cringed when he saw it shoved toward him.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Steak," answered Colonel Phillips.

"What is in it?"

"Cow."

Still, Zola did not touch the dinner Phillips had provided him with. He just continued to shrink away from the delicious meal.

Colonel Phillips sighed.

"Doctor," he said, "do you realize how difficult it is to get ahold of a prime cut like that out here?"

Zola stared solemnly at him.

"I don't eat meat," he replied.

"Why not?"

"It disagrees with me."

From his place behind the two-way mirror, Steve was seething. Was this a game to the biochemist?

Again, Agent Carter touched his arm.

"Give him a chance, Steve. The Colonel is actually aware of this. We brought that steak in deliberately."

Steve turned to her to give her a puzzled stare, but he never got a chance to ask her what she meant, as back inside the cell, Colonel Phillips was chuckling darkly, and he quickly returned his focus back to that.

"How about cyanide?" Phillips asked. "Does that give you the rumbly tummy, too?"

This time, Zola actually looked uncomfortable.

Phillips smirked as he pulled the tray away from Zola and back toward him. He started to eat the steak himself as he went on.

"Every Hydra agent that we've tried to take alive has crunched a little pill before we can stop him," he said, cutting up a bit of the steak and popping it into his mouth. He swallowed it and continued. "But not you. So, here is my brilliant theory. You want to live."

Zola smirked. "You're trying to intimidate me, Colonel."

"I bought you dinner," Phillips countered.

Wordlessly after that statement, the Colonel pushed the sheets of paper he'd brought in along with the tray across the table toward Zola. This time, Zola was puzzled, and quickly read the contents of the top sheet out loud.

" _Given the valuable information he has provided,"_ he said, _"and in exchange for his full cooperation, Doctor Zola is being remanded to Switzerland…"_

Colonel Phillips grabbed the saltshaker on the tray, and lightly sprinkled it over the potatoes. "I sent that message to Washington this morning. Of course it was encoded," he added as an afterthought. "You guys haven't broken those codes, have you? That would be awkward."

Zola looked uncertain now.

"Schmidt will know this is a lie."

Phillips was unfazed. "He's going to kill you anyway, Doc. You're a liability. You know more about Schmidt than anyone. And," he added, his voice now stern, " the last guy you cost us was Captain Rogers' closest friend, and you also went ahead and kidnapped his sidekick Lieutenant Harper along with her brother, so I wouldn't count on the very best of protection."

Steve straightened up a bit at this. Finally, Colonel Phillips was getting to Jamie. He'd been starting to fear that he was only going to focus on finding the main Hydra base.

"It's you or Schmidt," Phillips continued. "It's just the hand you've been dealt."

Zola didn't say anything for a few moments as he considered Phillips' words. Finally, he spoke.

"Schmidt believes he walks in the footsteps of the Gods," he began. "Only the world itself will satisfy him."

The Colonel scoffed. "You do realize that's nuts, don't you?" he asked.

"What?" said Zola, rolling his eyes. "The sanity of the plan is of no consequence."

"And why is that?"

"Because he can't do it!"

Colonel Phillips attacked a bit of the steak with his fork and popped it in his mouth.

"What's his target?"

Zola leaned forward.

"His target," he whispered, actually sounding a bit amused, "is _everywhere…"_

The Colonel abruptly stopped chewing the piece of steak.

From their place beyond the mirror, Steve and Agent Carter were exchanging bewildered looks. Despite their worry about Jamie, this was completely shocking. They knew Schmidt was crazy, but this was beyond nuts. As soon as they rescued Jamie, they'd have to stop Schmidt before he destroyed the entire planet.

Colonel Phillips recovered from his momentary shock, and swallowed the food in his mouth.

"Sounds like we're gonna have our hands full dealing with him after we save Lieutenant Harper…"

"You actually think you'll save her?"

"Of course I do, because you, Doctor Zola, are going to tell us where she is."

"Colonel—"

"Lieutenant Harper and Sergeant Harper are part of the deal, Doctor. You don't tell us where they, in particular Lieutenant Harper, are, the deal's off."

"But what if I can't tell you?"

The room fell silent.

Beyond the glass, Steve went completely still.

No… this couldn't be happening. Zola… he had to be bluffing! He had to have meant to say, 'But what if I _won't_ tell you?' Not 'But what if I _can't_ tell you…'

"Say again?" said Phillips.

"I have no idea where that platoon took Liberty Belle, or the boy."

"What?"

"Schmidt has offered up over a million Euro's to whichever Hydra team can successfully bring Captain America or Liberty Belle to him alive. As far as I know, that platoon lucked out when they caught her, but I have no idea what platoon it was that caught her and that boy. If they haven't taken her to Schmidt yet, I can only suspect that they decided to take her back to their own base."

"Why? Why not tell Schmidt that they caught her? A million Euro's is a lot of dough."

Zola frowned. "We're Hydra, Colonel. The bad guys."

"So?"

"The bad guys always try to squeeze as much as they can out of a deal. My rough guess would be that they thought they could squeeze out valuable information about your army out of that girl before they delivered her to Schmidt. Does she have any such information, Colonel?"

Colonel Phillips remained silent.

"I'll take your silence as a 'no.' If she has no such information, I truly pity that little girl, because those men won't stop until they get something out of her. When you do find her, I can guarantee she won't be the same. Torture," said Zola, his eyes actually looking somewhat sad, "is something I've personally never agreed with in Hydra. They're going to break her until she tells them something. They won't stop until she's cracked."

Steve was in shock. Torture… that Hydra platoon were probably torturing Jamie. Innocent, sweet little Jamie. They were torturing her for information she did not have. There'd never been any reason to tell her anything other than what was necessary before missions. She was just a kid. She had enough to worry about with her schoolwork with her private tutor, so they didn't bother telling her, and she had never asked.

Jamie and Trent were currently in the middle of hell, and Doctor Zola — the only person they'd believed had any chance at knowing where they were — couldn't help them.

* * *

Day two of Jamie's living nightmare had ended approximately two hours ago, and despite enduring countless amount electrical shocks throughout the day and the throbbing pain in her left hand again that had slowly faded away from her advanced healing, she really couldn't have been happier.

In the wee hours of the morning, Trent had successfully managed to pry apart the bar on his cell. Jamie had been thrilled, and had begged Trent to run and find the guard right then and there and knock him out to get the keys.

Trent, as much as it pained him, couldn't agree to do it.

"We have a plan, James. We need to stick to it."

"Please, Trent! I don't want them to hit or electrocute me again!"

"I'm sorry, sis, but waiting until nightfall tonight is the only way! Just try and live through today!"

"But Trent—"

"Jamie, this is how we both _survive!_ It's the only way! Don't you trust me?"

"Yes…"

"Then please! Endure today, and we'll be out of here before midnight tonight!"

"Midnight… your birthday."

"What?"

"Your birthday's tomorrow, Trentie. You can't spend your birthday in this cell. If you have to make me do one more beating… at least make sure we escape tonight! We can't celebrate your birthday in these cells!"

"Jamie, that's not important—"

"It is to me, Trent! Promise me! Promise me we won't celebrate your birthday in this cellblock! Promise me that if I have to endure another beating, we'll both leave together tonight!"

"I promise, sis," Trent replied, carefully rearranging the loose bar so that it only _looked_ like it was still strong and sturdy. "I promise. We leave tonight!"

Jamie smiled, but didn't get a chance to say anymore, because at that moment the door to the cellblock opened, and their captors came strolling in, and the day of torment had begun.

All day long, Jamie had pretended to plead with the leader of the Hydra guards to let them go, and had played up the scared little girl routine.

"Please…!" she'd scream and whimper over and over again. "I told you all yesterday… I don't know anything!"

The Hydra commander would grow more and more furious with her lack of information, and would up the voltage on the electric chair before instructing the guards to beat her. She'd scream over and over again as the watts of electricity coursed throughout her entire body and her bones cracked from the forces of their beatings.

Trent would on occasion scream at them so as to force them to start hitting him instead. He did it for two reasons. The first was so he could play up the protective big brother approach he'd shown them yesterday, but more importantly because he hated seeing his little sister in so much pain, and he knew that if he forced them to hit him instead, it would allow her body to regenerate and her bones to heal. The more breaks between beatings he allowed Jamie, the better equipped she'd be for their escape tonight. And besides, he wasn't important enough in the army to know the battle plans that these Hydra officers, so the guards didn't hit him nearly as hard as they hit her, because they knew that he at least was telling the truth when he said that he did not know anything; they believed that as he was just a Sergeant, but they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that Jamie really didn't know anything, either.

"You, Miss Liberty Belle," the Hydra leader would continuously growl out throughout the day, "are Captain America's sidekick! You must know _something!"_

"But I _don't!"_ she'd wail, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. "I really don't!"

Every time she said this, the leader would grow even angrier, and raise the voltage on the electric chair, or order the other guards to beat her harder.

Jamie would scream and cry. It was such a horrible day.

Now, though, the day of torment was over. It was dusk. They just had to wait until it was a bit darker. The guard change would happen beyond the cellblock door. Trent would knock him out, free her, and they'd make their escape.

"How much longer, Trentie?" Jamie whispered.

"Give it another hour," he said back. He was fiddling with the loose bar as he spoke, carefully arranging it so he could slip out easily within a moments notice if need be. "Another hour, and then we'll make our move."

"I'm scared, Trent…" Jamie murmured as frightened tears filled her eyes. "I'm really scared… What if they catch us on the way out?! What happens then?!"

"They won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not." He replied, his face grim. "All we can do, James, is try. We can't just stay here and wait for rescue. Look what happened with me! I had to wait months for you and Steve to rescue me, Bucky, and all those other men. We won't survive if we have to wait months for Steve and the other Howling Commandos to find us. The Hydra guards at that factory didn't beat the prisoners, but these men are! We won't survive if we have to wait. We need to leave now. _Tonight!"_

"But Trent—"

She was cut off by the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall outside their cellblock.

Trent and Jamie both froze when they heard the sound. This had not been planned. The guard change wasn't supposed to happen so early.

"Oh, no!" Jamie whispered.

"Stay calm," Trent ordered, his eyes never leaving the door. "If we're lucky, that guard won't come in, and if he does, play it cool. Continue to act scared. Do not, I repeat, do _not_ act cocky. Do that, and whoever's there will suspect something's up."

Jamie gulped, but nonetheless nodded. Trent had been a prisoner of war before. He knew what to do.

To the Harper sibling's dismay, the door opened, and the Hydra squadron leader stepped inside the cellblock.

Jamie gulped as the leader glared furiously at her as he strolled down to her cell. In the day and a half since her capture, she'd slowly come to fear this man. He scared her almost as much as the Red Skull did when she first saw him expose his true face.

The Hydra guard unlocked her cell, but didn't bother to shut it behind him as he entered.

"I have had quite enough of this nonsense with you, brat," he said gruffly. "The men in this platoon are growing tired of your constant insistence that you know nothing. Tell me right now what the American Army's battle plans are!"

"I… I don't know!" she cried. "Really! I don't! Don't you think I'd have told you by now if I did?!"

"For God's sake, you bastard!" Trent snarled as he gripped the still solid bars of his cell. "Leave her alone! For fuck's sake! She really doesn't know anything!"

"Quiet, 32557037!" the Hydra leader shouted. "My quarrel is currently not with you!" He turned back to Jamie. "Tell me what the American's are planning!"

"I don't know!" she screamed.

The Hydra leader just growled in angry frustration. Jamie cowered back in her seat. She was worried. What if he decided to start electrocuting her again? If he decided to start a late night torture session, she and Trent would definitely miss the guard change happening soon.

But the leader did not approach the control panel to the electric chair. Instead, he studied her, seemingly intrigued, as he appeared to consider something. Then, his eyes glinted evilly, and he smirked.

"Perhaps… a change in tactics will get you to talk."

Jamie and Trent stared at him in apprehension. What did that mean?

The guard slowly placed his hand on his hip, and removed both the ring of keys to the chains securing her to the chair, and his gun from his holster.

He pointed the gun at Jamie, who'd gone completely white.

"I'm going to remove your chains," he declared, his gun held firmly in his hand. "If you try anything — anything at all — a bullet goes straight through your skull. I will not hesitate. Do you understand me?"

Jamie did not hesitate in her response. She quickly nodded.

His smirk grew. "Good."

With his gun still raised firm and true at her forehead, the leader slowly unlocked the chains around Jamie and the chair, and began tugging them away. They fell to the floor of the cell with a loud clatter.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Trent demanded.

The guard ignored him, and continued to smirk wickedly at Jamie.

"Stand up," he ordered.

Though completely terrified, Jamie nodded again, and she shook a bit in fear as she got to her feet. Her legs were rather stiff after being forced to stay sitting in the same position for a day and a half, but she still did it.

"Take off your dress."

Jamie was bewildered. She was only a little girl. She did not know what that was supposed to mean, but the idea still frightened her.

"W-what…?"

"What did you just say to her…?" Trent whispered, his tone completely deadly, and no louder than a whisper as he gripped the bars of his cells so tight, his knuckles turned white.

The guard ignored both Jamie's confusion and Trent's quiet rage. He just continued to stare at Jamie with maliciousness in his eyes. "Take off your dress, get on the ground, and—"

" _What the fuck did you just suggest to my little sister?!"_

The Hydra leader barely had enough to turn around before Trent burst out from the concealed opening in his cell, and bounded through Jamie's open cell door before knocking him to the ground.

The guard's gun went flying as Trent forced himself on top of the guard, and began pounding on him as hard on him.

" _How dare you! How dare you!"_ He screamed over and over again. He didn't give the guard a chance to respond as he continued to beat his fists over and over again into the guards' face. _"She's my sister! She's ten-years-old! How fucking dare you! How dare you even think of her that way! There are rules, Goddammit! Rules to how you treat prisoners of war! There are rules! You fucker!"_

Jamie was in shock. She didn't know what it was that the Hydra guard had wanted her to do, but whatever it was, it had gotten Trent angrier than she'd ever seen him. She shrank back against the walls of her cell. As much as it ashamed her to say it, she was actually afraid of her big brother in that moment. She didn't know what these rules of war were, but whatever it was that Trent was talking about, she hoped he calmed down soon. He was protecting her, but still scaring her at the same time.

The Hydra guard, now coming out of his shock of Trent not only having escaped from his cell, but knocking him down, too, began trying to throw punches of his own back at Trent. Trent did his best knock them away, but the guard was older than Trent was, and stronger, too.

All too soon, he managed to throw Trent off of him, and now he was on top, pounding viciously on the young man's face.

" _Trent!"_

Seeing her brother like that, having the living shit beaten out of him by this horrible, evil man, something snapped in Jamie. She did not consider what she wanted to do. She did not hesitate to do it. She didn't even remember thinking about wanting to even do it.

She lunged for the fallen gun, aimed, and fired it directly at the Hydra leaders' head.

His entire brain exploded. Brains and blood flew everywhere throughout the cell, and his lifeless body fell in a messy clump on top of Trent.

Jamie froze with the gun still between her fingers. Her eyes were wide. Her jaw was dropped open. She couldn't believe what she'd just done. She'd just killed a man. She. Killed. A. Man. She broke her all-time important rule. She'd promised herself she would not kill anyone. She hadn't even thought twice about doing it.

The gun slipped out from her fingers, and fell with a small clank on the floor of the cell.

She killed a man. She was a murderer.

She started to whimper in shock as the thought rolled through her mind.

Trent quickly pushed the lifeless body off of him, and looked over at Jamie.

"Jamie…" said Trent. Although he wasn't pleased by these turn of events, he was relieved that his sister had done what was necessary. He had to get her focused, though. Thanks to that gunshot, the other guards were bound to come running any second. "Jamie, look at me."

Slowly, Jamie turned to look at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"I… I killed him…" she murmured. "I _killed_ him!"

"It's okay," he assured her. He moved, and rested both of his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me, James. The guards are coming. We have to leave! Now! You're going to have to kill more men as we get out of here!"

"What?!"

"This is how we survive, Jamie! This is how we survive!"

Slowly, she nodded. "O… Okay…"

"Good."

He fished through the holster on the Hydra leader's belt, and drew out the second gun. As he moved to grab Jamie's hand and drag her out from the cell behind him, she quickly tugged away.

"Wait, Trent! The pocket watch!"

She pointed sharply at the leader's belt. Their father's pocket watch was sticking out from it.

Wordlessly, Trent bent down, and untied it from the belt loop. Instead of cramming it into his pocket, though, he threw the chain of it around Jamie's neck.

"I love you, Jamie. May Mom and Dad watch over you and keep you safe," he whispered.

Jamie whimpered, and hugged him tightly.

"I love you, too, Trent."

Trent smiled. He kissed the top of his little sister's forehead, seized her hand, and dragged her behind him out of the cell, and out the cellblock door.

Just as Trent had predicted, guards were flocking towards the cellblocks after hearing the gunshot. Trent and Jamie did not stop to fight them. They just ran in the opposite direction.

They ran. And they ran. If any guard attempted to bar their way, they'd immediately shoot them. They did not stop to think twice about it.

Jamie was currently on autopilot as they fought their way out of the base. Her mind was still in shock over not only killing someone for the first time, but also from everything that had happened to her in the past twenty-four hours. Her mind was incapable of dealing with the pressure right then, but still recognized that she needed to get out of there, so the emotional impact that she should have been experiencing from all the deaths she was deliberately causing right now had been locked away deep in her subconscious. It'd return at full force later on, but right now, it was gone, and she could focus on escaping. The only real thoughts actually running through her head right now were two things:

How much she wished she still had her torch, and where was the way out of this place?

It took awhile, but eventually, Trent and Jamie managed to find the door leading to outside.

Jamie grew excited when she saw the outside world. Freedom. True freedom. All they had to do was run through the gates straight ahead, and they'd be free.

She started running so fast, she was now the one dragging Trent behind her. She didn't stop when she realized he was struggling to catch up with her. She didn't stop to think about the fact that he was not genetically enhanced just like she was, and that he couldn't match her speed. She didn't think twice when his hand slipped out of hers.

She just ran.

She had just reached the main gates to the Hydra complex when she suddenly heard a gunshot, and Trent screaming in pain.

The sound of her brother in distress brought Jamie back to reality, and she quickly halted and whirled around. Her brother was several yards behind her and on the ground, clutching his right leg. The same leg that had been injured many months beforehand. One of the guards had his pistol raised. He'd shot him to stop him from escaping.

Jamie was completely immobile. Every part of her was screaming at her to run back and help her brother, but she couldn't bring herself to move.

Trent glanced up, and saw her standing frozen at the entrance to the gate.

" _Run, Jamie!"_ He screamed to her as the guards surrounded him. _"Run! Don't stop! Run! Run!"_

Jamie did not want to run. She wanted to go back. She had to help him! He was her brother! She couldn't just leave him here!

But instead, her feet turned, and she was running away from the base as fast as she could force her little legs to take her.

She wanted to turn around, to force her body to go back. Trent was her brother! _Her only brother!_ She had to save him! But her mind would not force her body to turn back around. Her feet would dead set on their course to the nearby forest, and they did stop pounding through the snowy terrain.

As she ran away from the base, a single gunshot rang through the air.

Jamie cried, but she did not stop running, nor did she look back once.

* * *

All throughout the remainder of the evening, Jamie ran. It was dark by now, and she was tired. As Trent had instructed her, she ran east as soon as she was out of sight of the base, and straight into the middle of the nearby forest. It was dark, it was cold, and she was scared. She was all alone.

The cold winds of winter blew through the trees, and Jamie shivered. She stopped for a second and ran her hands over the exposed skin of her arms from her Liberty Belle dress. As she did so, she noticed that the tips of her fingers were beginning to turn blue. She was freezing. She wanted nothing more than to stop and find someplace to warm up, but she couldn't. For all she knew, the Hydra guards were right behind her, and Trent had told her before that even if she were cold, movement would keep her warm. And more importantly alive. She had to keep moving.

She gulped thickly. The cold, snowy air was driving her mad. The pain she'd experienced from back in the Hydra base had long since vanished, and in its base was the pain from frostbite, but her body wasn't kicking in to speed up the healing process. She was much too cold, and was still exposed to the icy elements. She'd freeze to death out here before she found anyone willing to help her and warmed up her up enough for her enhanced physiology were to kick in. The only reason she was even still holding onto her gun was because her fingers had frozen completely onto the metal weapon. Had she been able to, she would have dropped it a long time ago simply because her fingers were in so much pain and could not bear to keep holding onto it.

Slowly, Jamie forced her feet to continue trudging forward through the snow. Combined with the fact that the snow was making it difficult for her to move around in, she was exhausted, and could do no more than just drag her feet along the ground. She was moving at zombie-speed. After running as fast as she could for hours and hours on end in her effort to escape the base, she'd run herself into complete exhaustion, and moving any faster required a great amount of determination.

As she continued on her way through the snowy forest, she thought about Trent.

Trent… her wonderful big brother. How could she have done that? How could she have just left him there? She had heard the gunshot, even if she hadn't turned back to witness it. She knew. She knew he was gone.

Tears began to stream down her cheeks, but they quickly froze halfway down when they met the icy temperature of the air. She really was all alone without her brother anymore. She really was an orphan now. If she survived to see the end of the war — hell, if she survived the night, even — she'd probably be sent right back to the orphanage in New York. Nick, Becky, and all the other kids would enjoy welcoming her back. She could just envision what would happen upon her guaranteed return.

"Look, everyone! It's the Freak! She's back! She may have saved the world, but she was too stupid enough not to know how to save her brother!"

"Welcome back, War Girl! Why're you back…? What's that? You left your brother behind to _die?!_ I knew you were always dumb, but I never thought you were a heartless murderer!"

Murderer… that was another word floating around in her head. In addition to being the unintentional cause of her big brother's death, she'd also killed that Hydra guard today. Him and so many other men. She couldn't believe she'd done that. She'd said for months now whenever Steve or any of the people in the army had tried to persuade her to use her guns that she would not kill. Ever. And yet, she'd killed so many men today without thinking twice. She'd broken her no-killing code. She was a cold-hearted murderer…

A flash of light in the trees snapped her out of her thoughts, and Jamie went still. What was that? Was it a Hydra guard? Had they managed to catch up with her?

Before she could so much as consider hiding herself behind a tree, she heard a loud array of voices. Most of them were jumbled, and because she was tired, she could not force her brain to try and figure out what they were saying, but there was one voice that called out that she could understand very clearly.

"Hello? Is someone out there?"

Jamie didn't answer. She attempted to raise her gun and fire in the direction of the voices, but all she heard was a clicking sound. She'd used up all her bullets while escaping the base.

She turned around, and bolted away from the area as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast at all considering how cold and exhausted she was. She was right. Hydra had caught up with her. She had to get away.

As she ran, the lights shined in her direction. Although she didn't look back, she heard strangled shouts of shock, surprise, and alarm.

"Holy fuck! Liberty Belle?! Stop!"

But Jamie did not stop. She had to get away. Trent had given his life to make sure she escaped from the Hydra base. She could not afford to be captured again. She ran and ran.

"Wait! Stop!" screamed the one voice she could understand. _"Stop!"_

She heard the group of Hydra agents starting to follow after her, and she forced her weary legs to move as fast as they could. She climbed over logs, dodged around trees, and at once point forced herself to become even colder as her red boots splashed through a very shallow stream, not large to wade through, but enough to make her splash water up from her ankles to the exposed skin of her legs. She shivered. But she kept on running.

"Stop! Please! We won't hurt you! Stop! Stop!"

They wouldn't hurt her? That was new. They'd already hurt her. They'd strapped her to an electric chair and zapped her for hours on end these past two days. They'd beaten her. They beat her so hard they made her harder and denser than normal human being bones to actually break. But most importantly, they killed Trent. Trent… the one person in her life she still had left. When they killed him, they killed what was left of her.

As she tried to jump over some large, overgrown roots of a tree, one of her boots got tangled, and she tripped, and fell face-first onto the ground, and her head banged up against a nearby rock.

She screamed in pain as her vision blurred. She was seeing double, but still, she had to get away. She tried to force her body to stand, but the world spun before her eyes, and she fell back down into the snowy earth.

The footsteps grew closer to her, and she started crying again. She'd failed. Hydra was here. They were about to take her back to that base. They were going to beat her, electrocute her, and do God's knows what else until she drew her dying breath of air. Trent had given his life in order to give her a chance to live, but she had wasted it. He'd died only for her to get captured once again.

The platoon of men drew nearer, and Jamie forced herself to keep her eyes open despite her tiredness and the world continuously swirling around her in a viciously blurry cycle of snow. To her surprise, these Hydra agents were not wearing the traditional black Hydra uniform. Instead, they were all dressed in light blue, and one of them was carrying a red, white, and blue flag.

As Jamie fought to focus on her new captors, there was a great uproar from the men as they shouted and jabbered in shock upon finding her. Jamie didn't understand most of what they were saying, but the leader of the brigade appeared to be the one who'd been screaming at her to stop before, and he was continuing to shout now.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph… It _is_ Liberty Belle! Holy fuck!"

He carefully lifted Jamie up off the ground and into his arms.

"Shit…! She's ice cold! Marceaux! Run on ahead back to the tanks and get blankets! Benoit! Go with him! Radio camp! Tell the Commander to start radioing the Americans in London that we found the girl!"

Despite her blurring vision, Jamie watched lifelessly as two of the men in the group ran away from the main group. Jamie wanted to squirm out of the grasp of this Hydra agent, but she was two tired and cold to move. All she could do was make a weak protest.

"Don't… don't take me back…" she whimpered. "Don't wanna go back… I… I wanna go home…"

"Don't worry, kid," said the man carrying her as he and the other men began running through the trees. "You're in good hands. We're the good guys."

Jamie groaned. This was cruel, even for Hydra. To make her believe that she was safe and sound as they dragged her freezing cold corpse through the trees back to their base hidden somewhere on the mountain.

With a sigh, she raised her icy, freezing fingers up to her chest, and grasped tightly at her brother's pocket watch hanging around her neck. If she was to die here, in the forest, as these Hydra agents brought her back to base, she wanted to know the time. The time at which she died. The time at which she failed to get back to the spot where she'd been kidnapped and where Steve and all the other members of the United States Army was currently looking for her.

It took her a minute to click open the lid of the watch, but she managed it, and with a shaking hand, she raised it up to read it.

Her vision was dancing now, but she could distinctly make out both the hands of the clock pointing upwards.

Midnight.

"Happy birthday… Trent…" she whispered.

And the world went black.


	9. Unbroken

**This chapter was actually finished last night, but I was so tired when I finished it at around three in the morning, I couldn't bring myself to post it up because I knew it would take an extra ten minutes just to write this AU note. Sorry for that delay, but here it is now!**

 **I have to say, I'm actually surprised to the response to the last chapter. I wasn't expecting a lot of reviews considering how dark it was, or if I did, I was expecting them to be flames. Instead, I got the most reviews I ever received for a chapter, and while people were upset about what happened to Jamie and Trent, they admitted it was a good twist! Leaves me to wonder that if I write more horrible things for Jamie instead of nice things, will people review more?**

 **Temptations, temptations... ;)**

 **Anyway, let me stop and thank all those many wonderful reviewers:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My Biggest Fan!)**

 **\- DragonessGem**

 **\- storiesarebetter**

 **\- opalwolf12**

 **\- Cameo M. Wolf**

 **\- deathangel1630**

 **Please, people, be nice to me and leave just as many wonderful reviews as you did last chapter for this chapter? Pretty please? You'll make me so happy if you do! Please and thank you!**

 **Disclaimer for Liberty Belle is available in Chapter 2.**

 **Happy Reading!**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: Unbroken**

" _Mommy, why do I have to wear this dress? I don't like it! You said I have to sit still and not play while wearing it!"_

" _Because, sweetheart, we're all going out to dinner to celebrate your brother's scholarship for getting into college. You don't want to get dirty beforehand, do you?"_

 _Eight-and-a-half-year-old Jamie Elizabeth Harper pouted as she squirmed in her seat in front of her mother's vanity as her mother ran a brush through her light brown hair._

 _Catherine Harper softly smiled. The woman was thankful for many things in her life, her well paying job and her wonderful husband for sure, but the one thing she loved more than life itself was her children, in particular her daughter. Jamie was like her in so many ways back when she was just a child. She may have inherited her husband's brown hair and eyes just like her son had, but in exception to her pouty attitude right now, she was generally a loving, sweet little girl. She may be a bit quieter and not as outgoing around people she didn't know than she had been when she was her age, but other than that, she was just like her, and she loved her so much for it._

" _Do we have to go?" Jamie whined, turning around in her chair to look Catherine right in the eye. "Can't we just buy a cake and give it to Trent? Do we have to get all dressed up and go to that fancy dinner place?"_

" _Now, Jamie," said Catherine sternly. "You promised me that you'd be good, didn't you? That you wouldn't complain tonight?"_

" _I know…"_

" _Then you know very well that we're going. It's your brother's night. Be nice."_

" _Yes, Mommy…"_

 _Catherine smiled, and snatched a ribbon off the vanity, and quickly fixed it up in Jamie's hair._

" _There! You look so pretty, honey!"_

 _Jamie smiled as she looked at her reflection in the glass. Indeed, she did look really pretty. Even though she didn't normally like to wear her hair down, but for once, it did look nice like this, with the light curls her mother had added in and the white ribbon and bow on her head. With her pretty white dress and party shoes, she looked like a little doll._

 _Jamie looked up at her mother. Catherine was young looking for being in her mid-forties, and thin and blonde. She was truly a vision, what with her full and pretty ruby red lips curled up in a smile, and her emerald green dress bringing out the brilliant green of her eyes. She was beyond beautiful._

 _Jamie smiled, and then suddenly hugged her mother tightly. She wanted to be just like her when she grew up. She wanted to be just as pretty as her. She was her role model in everything. From teaching her daughter how to sing and dance in the school Drama Club, to playing pretend as they dressed-up in her mother's old clothes as being a royal queen and a princess. Her mother was wonderful._

 _There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Jamie and Catherine turned around._

" _Come in," called Catherine._

 _The doorknob turned, and the door opened. Brandon and Trent entered the room, both spiffed up splendidly in freshly pressed new black suits and dinner jackets._

" _Daddy!"_

 _Jamie tore herself out of her mother's embrace, and bounded up toward her father, and tackled him in a hug, too. While she loved her mother more than anyone in the world other than perhaps her big brother, she loved her father, too. He always gave her the best, warmest hugs. He, too, was irreplaceable._

 _Brandon Harper lightly laughed, and promptly scooped his daughter in his arms and twirled her around. Jamie laughed. He could always bring a smile to her face._

" _My, my, what have we here," said Brandon, gently tickling the tip of her nose with his finger. Jamie giggled. "I came looking for my beautiful wife and precious little girl, but instead, I've found a sweet little Princess. Do you happen to know where I might my little Jamie, Little Princess? She's four feet tall, light brown hair, brown eyes, darling little smile, and rosy red cheeks. Surely you must've seen her! She has to be around here, somewhere…"_

" _Silly Daddy! I'm Jamie!" Jamie piped, wrapping her arms around Brandon's neck and planting a kiss on his cheek. "You look nice, Daddy! You look just like a King! You have to be a King, because Mommy looks like a Queen!"_

" _Indeed," Brandon agreed, setting Jamie back down on the ground as he approached his lovely wife. "You're mother does look wonderful. Truly, she is the most beautiful Queen in all the world."_

" _Oh, Brandon!" Catherine cooed, running her fingers through her husband's dark brown locks of hair before pulling him in for a quick kiss._

 _Eighteen-year-old Trenton Anthony Harper chuckled and grinned as he watched his parents embrace as he leaned up against the framework of his parents bedroom door. He'd learned just last week that he'd been offered a full baseball scholarship to NYU, and his parents, upon learning the news, had promptly decided to take him out to dinner at a five-star restaurant to celebrate. He was excited. Not all teens were offered full athletic scholarships to their dream university. Tonight was going to be great._

 _He turned, and gazed down at his little sister, who was still bouncing up and down as she watched their parents kiss._

" _What about me, James?" Trent asked with a raised brow. "You're the Princess, Mom's the Queen, and Dad's the King, but what does that make me?"_

" _The Prince!" she insisted, looking up at him with big, excited brown eyes. "You're Prince Trent! You're my Prince! My Prince Charming!"_

" _You're Prince Charming, huh?"_

" _Of course!" she said, running up and hugging him as she spoke. "You're my big brother, Trent! So of course you're my Prince! You'll fight any dragon! You'll beat back any evil wizard! You'll rescue me from the tallest room of the tallest tower! You'll always protect me!"_

" _Naturally," he agreed, bending down and patting her shoulder as he spoke. He would have ruffled her hair, but he didn't want to mess it up. Their Mom had spent over an hour fixing it up. "Of course I will. Like you said, I'm your big brother. I'll always be here to protect you."_

" _Even though you're going away to college?" she asked, her eyes suddenly turning big and sad._

" _Hey now, don't look so sad," he said, putting a finger under her chin and lifting it up to look him in the eye. "I may be going to college, but I'm not leaving home! I'm just heading downtown to school instead of the high school down the street! I'm not moving out! I'll still be here!"_

" _You will? Really?"_

" _Of course I will, Jamie. I'll always be here for you."_

 _Jamie smiled, and promptly hugged him again._

 _Other than Catherine and Brandon, there was no one on earth Jamie loved more than her big brother. He could always bring a smile to her face, and could convince her that everything was all right with his warm hugs and friendly smiles. She loved him so, so much._

" _Speaking of being at places," said Brandon as he and Catherine broke away from their embrace. He pulled his silver antique pocket watch out from the pocket of his dinner jacket, and checked the time. "It's almost six o'clock. Our reservation is for six thirty. We better get going."_

" _Daddy, can't we stay?" Jamie whined. "We can all play pretend! We can build a castle out of pillows! You and Mommy can be the King and Queen, I'll be the Princess, and Trent will be the Prince! He can rescue me back from the Evil Wizard for you both!"_

" _We'll play later, sweetheart," her mother said, patting her daughter's cheek as she spoke. "We'll all play together later. For now, though, we need to get going. The royal banquet awaits!"_

" _May I escort you to our chariot, my lovely Queen?"_

" _You may, my handsome King."_

 _Catherine looped her arm around Brandon's offered elbow, and allowed him to lead her out of the bedroom._

 _Trent grinned at their playing, and then offered Jamie his hand._

" _Let's go, Princess Jamie," he said playfully. "The royal ball awaits!"_

 _Jamie giggled, and took Trent's hand as she skipped out door, dragging him along behind her._

* * *

"What about this base hidden to the south?"

"It's too far. They'd never had made it that far in such a short amount of time. Especially since they had two prisoners."

"Then how about here?"

"We've combed through that area already. There's nothing there."

Steve yawned tiredly as he and everyone else on base continued searching the large map of Austria. They were currently trying to pinpoint possible locations as to where the small Hydra base that the platoon of Hydra soldiers could be located. If they could find that base, they'd find Jamie and Trent. Most of the people in the main room of the base were exhausted. Ever since Zola had admitted to Colonel Phillips yesterday that he had no idea where the Harper siblings could be, an emergency meeting had been called in, and now everyone on the base was using all their efforts to try and figure out where their missing Liberty Belle and her older brother could be.

Most people had switched off with other officials in the early hours of the morning so as to get some sleep, but not Steve. He'd not slept a wink all night. Agent Carter, Howard, and the rest of the Howling Commandos had on many occasions tried to persuade him to just go ahead and nap for an hour or so, and that if they'd received any word about Jamie's whereabouts, they'd inform him immediately, but Steve would not leave the main room. He'd fall asleep on his feet in here before he left and went to bed right now.

He had to find her.

He had to find Jamie.

She was his little protégé.

He had to find her.

"Colonel, what about if they took them both up north?" he suggested, pointing his finger at a spot on a northern area of the map. "It'd be an excellent spot for a Hydra base. The mountains are pretty big around there. It'd provide good cover to hide the spot."

"That's definitely a possibility," Phillips agreed. He turned to Agent Carter. "Agent Carter, coordinate with MI6. I want a team searching that area within the next hour."

"Yes, sir."

"Sir, with all due respect, I sent out an aerial surveillance team around that area some time last night," said Howard. "They said there was no sign of any human life."

Phillips sighed, and ran a hand over his face. "If you have a better idea, Stark, I'd love to hear—"

"Sir? Colonel Phillips?" called out a small army private as he entered the room. "The French Commander is currently radioing you."

"Tell him I'm busy, Private."

"But sir, he's insisting that he speaks with either you or Captain Rogers," the private went on. "He keeps repeating the same phrase over and over: _Nous avons trouvé la jeune fille."_

Colonel Phillips and Steve both turned to him with puzzled expressions. What did that mean?

Jacques and Jones, however, had immediately gone white.

"Are you sure that's what they said?" Jones demanded.

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Jones!" barked Phillips. "What does that mean?"

"Rough translation?"

"Please!"

"'We found the girl.'"

Every head in the room whipped around. Steve's jaw dropped. Jamie had been found? She was safe? The French had found her? What about Trent?

He bolted out of the main room and towards the nearest radio as fast as he could.

* * *

" _Here's to Trent! To being successful at NYU!"_

 _Jamie, Trent, and Catherine all raised their glasses at Brandon's proposed toast, and quietly sipped their drinks. Dinner had been very nice. The chef's at the restaurant made the best grilled chicken and sizzling steak dinners. Even Jamie managed to enjoy herself. She hadn't been pleased to dress up so nice just for going out to dinner, but she'd come to really enjoy the night. It was Trent's night, after all. And he couldn't have looked prouder of himself than he did right then._

" _Thanks, Dad," he said kindly. "I have to admit, I'm really excited! NYU's offered to make me a first-string batter on the team! Do you have any idea how rare it is for a freshman to be made first string?"_

"' _Course I do, champ," said Brandon, thumping his son on the shoulder. "I'm your coach, after all! I'm the one that trained you! And speaking of being proud, I have something for you."_

" _Really, Dad? What?"_

" _This."_

 _Brandon reached into the pocket of his dinner jacket, and pulled out his silver pocket watch. He dropped it into his stunned sons' hands._

" _Dad… the family pocket watch? I… I can't take this…"_

" _You're a man now, Trenton. It's family rules that when the oldest son of the family becomes a man, he gets the watch. I've been meaning to pass it on to you for awhile now, but now seems like the perfect time."_

" _Dad…"_

" _I'm very proud of you, honey," Catherine chimed in. "Truly, I am. I couldn't be prouder."_

" _Me, too, Trentie!" Jamie added. "I'm proud of you, too!"_

" _Thanks, James. That means a lot."_

" _We'll make a day out of it, for your first college-league game," Catherine proposed. "Me, your father, and Jamie. Your father and I will take the day off of work and pull Jamie out of school. We'll be there to cheer you on."_

" _Aw, come on, Mom! That's not necessary!"_

" _Nonsense! It'll be your first big game as a college student! We'll be there to support you!"_

" _Geez! None of the other guys on the team will their parents and baby sister there cheering for them… You guys will be a nuisance!"_

" _Well, then none of the other guys on the baseball team at NYU will have families that love and support their son and brother as much as your parents and little sister do," his mother said firmly._

 _Trent groaned. He was already embarrassed, and the first game of the college season was still months away. Somehow, he'd have to convince his mother not to come and humiliate him._

 _He opened his mouth to try and persuade her otherwise, when every pair of ears at the table immediately picked up on the sound of quiet sobbing._

" _You… you don't want me to come, Trentie?" Jamie sniffled, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. "You think I'm a nuisance?"_

 _She started to bitterly weep into her hands._

" _Aw, shit! No! Jamie, I—"_

" _Language, Trent!" said Catherine sharply and with narrowed eyes. "We do not use that sort of language in our house, at the table, and most certainly not in front of small children!"_

" _Crap! Sorry, Mom!"_

" _I don't approve of that word, either, but I'll overlook it for now. In the meantime, apologize to your sister."_

" _Yes, Mom," he muttered darkly._

" _Trent!" said their father somewhat sternly, but really, he was doing his best to suppress his laughter at everything that was happening. "Do not speak to your mother in that tone!"_

" _Sorry, Dad." He turned back to face Catherine. "Sorry, Mom." Then he turned to face Jamie. "Sorry, James."_

" _You… you don't think I'm a nuisance?" Jamie said quietly._

" _No, of course not."_

" _Then we can come and see your baseball game?"_

 _Trent bit his lip. "Well—"_

" _Please, oh, please, Trentie?! Pleeeeease?!"_

 _He sighed. "Oh, all right…"_

 _Immediately, the little girl perked right back up. "Gotcha! Now you have to let us come!"_

 _Trent immediately blanched. "Were you faking that crying just to make me say you could come see the game?"_

" _Maybe. Maybe not. You'll never know!"_

" _You stinker!"_

 _As Trent gently ruffled Jamie's hair, Catherine and Brandon laughed. Despite the nine-to-bordering-ten year age gap between Trent and Jamie, they were close as any other pair of siblings of closer age range was, and their children's antics were so comical sometimes._

* * *

Steve sat beside Agent Carter in the small car, provided of course by Howard. Both of Jamie's plush toys were on his lap.

They were on their way to the local hospital.

Upon hearing from the army private that the Commander of the French militia had information pertaining to Jamie's whereabouts, Steve hadn't been the only one to dash out of the room. Half the military personnel in the room had followed.

Steve tried to speak to the French Commander through the radio the private had told them about, but French man only knew so much English, and really couldn't communicate well with Steve or Colonel Phillips. That's when Jacques and Jones took over, and began conversing back and forth between the two parties via the CB.

Jacques relayed the messages into the microphone to the French Commander, while Jones translated to Steve and everyone else what was being said, as well as relaying the American army's questions about everything back to Jacques to ask the foreigner.

"A French platoon was running a sweep approximately forty miles west of the last point we saw Jamie when they found her," Jones explained to the expecting crowd. "They found her half frozen in the woods. Ran like the devil when she saw them, but they followed and got her. Fainted soon after, but they still got her warmed up and everything."

"Was she hurt at all?" called out Agent Carter.

"Hard to tell, what with the serum and everything. They mentioned she was suffering from mild frostbite when they were loading her into their tank, but by the time they'd gotten her under some blankets and driven about ten miles back to their own base camp, it'd mostly faded away. Who knows if she was hurt or not…"

"How long ago was this?" asked Colonel Phillips. "When exactly was she found?"

Jones relayed the question to Jacques, who quickly called out in French back into the microphone.

There was a rapid response back all in French.

"Approximately around midnight," Jones said. "The men that found her had some radio troubles, that's why they couldn't send a message right away to their Commander so he could tell us."

"And where is she now?"

"The Commander gave clearance to ship her off to the main hospital here in London."

"What about Trent?" asked Steve anxiously. "Was he with her? Is he all right, too?"

Again, Jones and Jacques conveyed the question. Everyone in the room waited with baited breath as they heard a response transmitted back in French.

With grim expressions, both men turned back to face the main group.

"Commander says that she was alone in the woods, but she did have a pocket watch around her neck. The only words she said as the group carried her back to their convoy were when she opened it up and saw the time. They claimed she muttered, 'Happy birthday, Trent,' before succumbing to the cold and passing out."

A long silence spread throughout the room after that. Everyone understood what that meant. There was no way in hell that Jamie would have left her brother behind in that Hydra base and taken his pocket watch with her if he was still alive.

He and Agent Carter were currently in the first car to the nearby hospital to find her. The other Howling Commandos were following in the next two cars behind them, and in the car after that, Howard and Colonel Phillips.

They had to verify in person that the little girl found was indeed Jamie, even though everyone was already one hundred percent sure that it was.

Steve's head was reeling. What the hell had happened to her? How had she escaped from her captors? Was Trent really gone?

He needed to see her with his own two eyes and make sure she was okay.

Agent Carter saw the grim, worried expression on his face, and quickly spoke up.

"She's going to be okay, Steve. That little girl is a fighter. Not just any little girl could single-handedly escape from being imprisoned by highly trained military guards."

Wordlessly, Steve nodded. His brain knew quite well that his love interest was right, but his heart couldn't quite grasp onto the idea. Not until he saw her himself and verified that she was alive and well.

* * *

" _Daddy? Can't we stop for ice cream before we go home?"_

" _What, seriously? It's the middle of February, and you want ice cream?"_

" _Yeah! Please?"_

" _Not tonight, sweetie."_

" _Aw, but Mommy—"_

" _Your father and I just spent a small fortune on dinner. We'll go out another night for ice cream, all right?"_

" _Okay…"_

 _Jamie pouted in the back seat of the car and folded her arms in annoyance. It was past eight o'clock. The family had just left the restaurant, and was currently on their way back home. They'd had a great time. The food was deliciously scrumptious, and they'd all enjoyed each other's company. It wasn't every night that they all dined out of the house._

" _Mom, can't you give us a break?" asked Trent from his seat next to her. "I'd like some ice cream, too! I'll even pay! Mr. O'Reilly paid all us employees at the store a couple days early."_

" _It's late, Trent," said their mother from the front passenger seat. She turned around slightly in the seat so she could peer at Trent and Jamie in the back. "Normally, I'd say yes, but it's past Jamie's bedtime. We need to get home, and besides, you both have school tomorrow."_

" _Can't you drive me in a little late, Mommy? You're the librarian at my school, after all! No one'll care!"_

" _I'll care," Catherine countered. "No further discussion on the matter."_

 _Trent rolled his eyes. "Whatever…"_

" _What was that, young man?"_

" _Nothing…"_

" _No, please! Speak up when you talk! What did you—?"_

" _All of you quiet!" called out Brandon from the driver's seat. "I need to focus! The roads are icy tonight!"_

 _Everyone immediately quieted down. Indeed, now that they weren't all constantly bickering to each other and were focusing on the car, they could feel that the wheels of the vehicle were skidding a bit back and forth._

" _Daddy…!"_

" _Brandon, is everything all right…?"_

" _Everything's fine. I've dealt with worse conditions than this before… I just need to focus. We'll be home soon, don't worry…"_

 _The conversation died away, and everyone sat quietly in the car. They didn't like the way he had added 'don't worry' at the end of his sentence._

 _There was a flash of lights from somewhere behind them._

" _What was that?" said Trent curiously._

 _Jamie unclicked her seat belt, sat up on her knees, and looked out the back windshield to see._

" _Jamie, sit down!" her mother ordered._

" _But Mommy—"_

" _Now, Jamie! Put your seatbelt back on!"_

 _Slowly, Jamie sat back down, and clicked her seatbelt back in place._

" _There's a car driving really fast," she said to her mother and father up front. "I mean, reeeeeally fast. They're getting close to us."_

" _Don't worry, baby," said Brandon, but he really wasn't talking directly to her anymore. He was looking apprehensively at the car in his rearview and side-view mirrors as he spoke. He was a bit nervous about that other car. "Nothing to worry about. Daddy's here, and Daddy'll—"_

 _The flash of light behind them grew brighter, and before anyone could figure out what was happening, the car with the bright lights was suddenly lurching forward towards them in the opposite side lane. Any second now, it would crash into them._

" _Daddy!"_

" _Brandon!"_

" _Dad!"_

" _Hold on!"_

 _Brandon fought to try and swerve their car slightly towards the sidewalk. He'd much rather crash into a streetlamp than be crashed into by an out-of-control car. As he tried to force the steering wheel to turn, however, their car spun completely out of control because of the icy conditions._

 _Everyone screamed as they spun around, and the crazy driver of the other car smashed right into them._

* * *

The car had just barely reached a complete stop in front of the hospital when Steve grabbed Jamie's stuffed toys, flew out from the backseat, and was running inside.

He burst into the main lobby, greatly startling a fair share of people by his sudden entrance, and quickly approached the main desk.

"I… I'm here for Jamie!" He gasped out to the baffled nurse on staff. "Jamie Elizabeth Harper! She's ten-years-old!"

"W-who…?" said the nurse, greatly mystified by the mysterious American Captain that had come scrambling out of nowhere into the building.

"L-Liberty Belle!" he corrected himself as an afterthought. The French soldiers when they came to drop her off probably hadn't known her real name, and just left the doctors and nurses in charge her code name. "She… she was brought in a couple hours ago! By the French militia!"

The main lobby doors opened again, and Agent Carter, Colonel Phillips, Howard, and the rest of the Howling Commandos were hurrying inside. Steve didn't look at any of them, though. His eyes were firmly fixed on the nurse, who was shaking her head at him.

"Sir, I don't know who you are, but I can't just allow you to just go up and see Liberty Belle. Family members, only!"

Colonel Phillips stepped in. "Liberty Belle is currently a ward of the United States Army considering the fact that the last member of her family could very well have died in the past twenty-four hours."

"And who're you?"

"Colonel Chester Phillips. Now, tell us her room number, and I won't make a big stink with your supervisor about you denying clearance to high-ranking officials of the United States—"

He was cut off by a very shrill, horrifying scream echoing throughout the entire building. A little girl's scream.

All throughout the lobby, people jumped and stared about wildly for the source of whatever child was in distress. No child should ever scream like that, like someone was attempting to murder her. Whoever the little girl was, she was screaming at the very top of her lungs.

Steve's blood went cold.

" _Jamie!"_

Despite the protests of everyone around him, and in particular the nurse ("Sir!"), he tore off wildly in the direction of his young protégé's scream.

* * *

"Miss Liberty Belle, please! Put the—"

"Don't call me that! Where am I?! Who're you people?!"

"We will gladly answer all your questions, Miss Liberty, but first, we need you to—"

" _Don't call me that!"_

The two nurses in the hospital room cowered back in alarm as Jamie, dressed only in a little thin hospital gown, held the scalpel out protectively in front of her. She would not attack the nurses, not unless they came any closer to her.

Upon awakening in the hospital room, Jamie had completely panicked upon finding herself in new surroundings. Her head ached a bit from hitting it the night before on a rock, and her fingers were very tender, but for the life of her, she could not figure out what was going on and where she was.

Her thoughts were a jumbled mess. She remembered her parent's car crash in great detail as though it happened only yesterday, but her common sense told her that that information was wrong. She was eight-and-a-half when that had happened, and she knew that she was currently ten-years-old. It wasn't as though she had a completely huge gap in her memory, though. She could still remember things.

Her brother went off to war last May, and it was currently the last day of January now. His birthday. She'd lived in the orphanage for over a month, but then she was… extracted? Selected? Plucked out? She couldn't really remember. That was a bit fuzzy due to her absolute panic.

She also remembered a very kind blonde man with blue eyes. Two different versions of him. One was small and skinny and wore an oversized military private uniform, but the other was tall and buff, and he wore the traditional Captain's military suit. He wasn't a figment of her imagination. She knew that this man was real, but she could not for the life of her link together the jigsaw pieces of his name.

Another clearer thing was the fact she was extremely strong now. Some sort of weird experiment had done this to her, she was pretty sure, and whatever it was that gave her this strength, she was quite sure it was indirectly tied to whatever the reason was that she was a complete mess whenever she thought about Trent.

Trent… Her big brother… Why was it that whenever she thought of her brother right now, she felt panic and sadness instead of the usual friendliness and warmth? Where was he? Why wasn't he here with her? And also, why was it that she had a distinctive memory of him screaming to her to run away? Why had he looked so afraid for himself, but desperate for her at the same time?

The Liberty Belle thing that the two nurses was calling her… that was another story. Liberty Belle was her. That she knew without a doubt. She had very distinctive memories of performing on a stage during a tour as a character named Liberty Belle. She remembered always having fun performing as she traveled around the country with the blonde man she recalled earlier, though his codename was Captain America. He'd always been nice to her, and they made a good American team while promoting bond sales to the general public.

Liberty Belle itself wasn't the problem she had with her name whenever the nurses called out to her. It was the 'Miss' part that they were throwing out before her that made her afraid.

Every time that they called her 'Miss Liberty Belle,' a great wave of indescribable fear and panic had welled up inside her. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She was afraid she was going to die. She had freaked out.

She needed answers to these questions and for them not to call her 'Miss,' and in her panic, she'd grabbed the first weapon she could find when the nurses began to try and restrain her after she'd screamed in fear and confusion, and leapt around the side of her hospital bed as an extra means of protection before screaming out her questions to the two nurses.

"I'm going to ask you again!" Jamie shrieked, both her hands wrapped firmly around the scalpel she was holding protectively out in front of her as she spoke. "Who _are_ you people?! Where am I?! Where's Trent?!"

"Please, we told you," said the first nurse, taking a very hesitant step forward toward Jamie. "We will gladly answer all your questions, but first, Miss Liberty Belle, you have to—"

" _Don't call me Miss Liberty Belle!"_ she screeched so loud, the nurse flattened herself back up against the wall. _"Stop calling me that! Just Liberty Belle! No Miss!"_

"L-Liberty Belle, then!" squeaked the second nurse. "S-sorry! We won't do it a-again! B-but please! J-just put the s-scalpel down!"

"Not until you tell me where Trent is! Where is he?! Why isn't he here?!"

"W-we don't know any Trent. We'll be more t-than happy to h-help you look for him, b-but first, you n-need to—"

The door to the small room slammed open. The two nurses 'eeped!' a bit as they shrank away from it, but Jamie whirled her entire body in its direction and kept the scalpel ready and true. Whoever it was that was about to enter this tiny room, if they tried to restrain, she'd put up a fight. She would not be kidnapped again!

Wait… kidnapped? Why had she thought that? She couldn't remember a time when she was ever—

" _Jamie Elizabeth Harper! Drop that scalpel!"_

Jamie's thoughts were interrupted as she took a good look at the man who'd entered her tiny hospital room. It was the blonde man from her memories. The one who'd always been so nice to her. One look at him and she could remember his name.

Her Captain America. Steve Rogers.

Instantly, the jumbled, confused puzzle pieces of her mind began to fall into place. Things that had been muddled and confused and not making a lot of sense were all at once clear.

She was Liberty Belle. Captain America's sidekick against Hydra.

She became Liberty Belle months and months ago after an experiment was done to make her child super-soldier.

She was an orphan now because Hydra had kidnapped her and Trent.

While escaping from Hydra, she indirectly killed her brother.

The last thought echoed through her mind as she stared at Steve.

Steve honestly didn't know what to make of the scene in front of him. He'd come running up here expecting to see Jamie in mind-numbing pain as the doctors and nurses tried to treat her battered body. Instead, he found her relatively unharmed, but in a mixture of shock and panic as she waved a scalpel as a meager means of protection from the two nurses that had been trying to treat her. He knew she'd probably be a bit scared and confused when she woke up here after the whole ordeal, but no one in the army, least of all him, had ever anticipated she'd try and defend herself from an unseen horror.

"Jamie," he ordered her gently upon seeing her eyes widen in recognition of him. "Drop the scalpel. Please!"

The tiny knife slid from her fingers, and spun through the air for a moment before falling upon the tiled floor with a small clink.

"Captain…" Jamie whispered softly. Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes, and then she wailed. _"Steve!"_

She flew around the tiny bed in the room, dived right at Steve, and nearly knocked him to the ground when she clung onto him and began sobbing loudly. Now that things were clear to her again and she could remember the details of everything that had happened to her, the full emotional impact regarding her kidnapping, torture, and Trent's death had hit her at full force, and she wanted nothing more than a hug from her kind mentor.

She was alone now. She wanted a hug just from that thought alone. Trent was dead. She wanted to tell Steve that Hydra killed him, but that would be a lie. She was the one responsible for his death. Had she not have left him back there, he'd still be alive.

How could she explain that he was gone now without lying about it or admitting to Steve that she'd been the one to kill him?

Steve was momentarily stunned by her sudden hug, but he quickly knelt down to her level and wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't imagine what she'd gone through these past few days.

The others from the army were scrambling down the hospital hallway, having finally gotten clearance from the nurse in charge of the desk to come and see her, but they all stopped in mid-run when they Jamie just sobbing loudly as she clung onto Steve. Steve saw them standing there, and threw them a nervous look over her shoulder at them.

None of them had ever seen her like this before.

"Jamie—" Steve said softly.

But Jamie didn't want him to speak right then. She didn't want him asking her what had happened to her. She did not want to relive it. Relive her brother's murder, her captivity and torture, but above all, the hours preceding her kidnapping when she'd let him down as his protégé by failing to at least help him save Bucky.

She wanted him to shut up, so she cried out the one thing she could tell him about what happened to Trent that she could successfully say was not a lie in any way, shape, or form.

"Trent… he's gone! He's dead!"

* * *

The following few weeks leading into February were rough on Jamie. She was still in slight shock, and everyone on the base was walking on eggshells around her.

It had been a couple days after Steve and the others had gone to see her in the hospital that the hospital had deemed her fit to be discharged. She hadn't said much to anyone as they'd loaded her inside a military jeep and drove her back to the American base. She just clutched both of her plushy's in one hand and gripped her brother's pocket watch hanging around her neck tightly in the other. It was hers, now. With no oldest son in her family anymore to pass it on to, her family heirloom fell to her to keep safe. Trent's watch from their Dad was now hers. And she knew exactly how to honor him with it.

Upon returning to the base, Steve and the others were immediately surprised when Jamie had been the first one out of the jeep. She hadn't even stopped when other military personnel tried to stop her and ask if she was all right. She just went straight to her bedroom and shut the door. Steve and Agent Carter had immediately followed her. They couldn't just leave her alone right now. They'd gently knocked before opening the door, only to be completely stunned by what they found her doing.

The individual framed photograph she had of her brother was out of its neat picture frame. Instead, it was in her hand, and she was using a pair of scissors to cut it up.

"Jamie! No!" shouted Steve as he and Agent Carter rushed into the room. Agent Carter seized the scissors from the girl while Steve took away the picture. Regardless of her intentions, they couldn't just let Jamie destroy one of the only things she had left of Trent.

"Give those back!" she shouted.

"We won't just allow you to cut up a picture of your brother," said Agent Carter sternly. "We're sure you miss him, but destroying your photograph of him will not—"

"I'm not destroying it, I'm shrinking it!" she'd snapped back.

Steve and Agent Carter stared, not understanding what that meant.

Jamie sighed, and fished the watch around her neck from out of the confines of her military uniform for them to see.

"This belonged to mine and Trentie's Dad," she explained. "When he died, it went to Trentie. Now that he's gone, it's mine. I just wanted to cut up my brother's face out of the picture and put it inside! That's all! I'm entitled to put anything I want inside my watch now! It's my watch and my picture! I can put them together if I want to!"

Steve and Agent Carter blinked at her. They hadn't been expecting that response, but there really wasn't any harm in letting her cut up the picture if she was just reframing it to fit it inside the watch. They gave her back the photograph and the scissors and watched her finish cutting up her brother's head. She clicked open the lid of the watch, and firmly planted the now small, circular picture on the inside lid before snapping it shut.

"Thank you," she said when this was done. "Thank you for not continuing to stop me from doing that. I needed to do that."

Then she crossed the room to her record player, and slipped her record of _Come Josephine In My Flying Machine_ into its track, and slipped under the covers of her bed to cry as she listened to the music.

For two weeks after that, people still really weren't sure what to do about her. She was technically physically unharmed now thanks to the regenerative healing speed of the serum injections, and she was perfectly safe in the American military base, but everyone could tell that she was not all right. She was still scared about everything that had happened.

For the few days after she returned, she stayed in her room as often as she could, listening to that record repeatedly play over and over again as she either laid down on her bed clutching Gigi or Pannie tightly, or simply just staring at her brother's face inside the pocket watch. Sometimes she'd just sit there silently and stay in a complete state of shock, but other times people would hear her crying beyond the closed bedroom door. Many people had come in to try and comfort the poor little girl, but Jamie would always send them away.

"Leave me alone," she'd tell them. "I want to be alone."

It was almost the end of the first week after her return did people see her leaving her bedroom, and what's more, it was without her hair up in their usual pigtails.

"Pigtails are for kids," she explained to Steve when he asked her about it. "I don't feel like a kid anymore."

She went back to trying to force herself to read _Peter Pan_ before he could ask her anything else.

At first, she'd stay out of her room for just for an hour or so before she scampered back to her little safe haven, but soon she stayed out a bit longer, and then afterwards, she tried staying out of her room as much as she could for an entire day. People tried to treat her fragilely. One wrong move or word, and she could revert back to pure shock.

Unfortunately, no one could have predicted what one wrong, innocent comment made by Dum Dum during dinner one night could have done to her.

It had been an okay day for Jamie. She'd only cried once, and that was right after she woke up. She'd stayed mainly strong throughout the entire day, forcing herself to try and act normally. People were still worried since they knew that it was not normal for a child to act like this, bottling up their emotions, but they were relieved to see that she was doing somewhat better.

No one even really knew what it was that freaked her out so much. Dum Dum had just made a comment about the electricity in the base, saying that the lighting in his room wasn't working well and that they should fix the wattage so that it'd give off more power. Jamie, who'd been in the process of swallowing some of her food, immediately went white as she started choking.

Steve had to give her a firm slap on the back to dislodge the food in her throat, and as she coughed it up, she avoided everyone's eyes.

"I… I'm not very hungry anymore," she'd said quietly.

She excused herself from the dining hall and exited the room as swiftly as she could while doing her best to ignore the perplexed looks she was receiving from anyone. Steve, Agent Carter, and Dum Dum (for no other reason than to simply apologize to her for whatever he'd said that had upset her) all went to her room later on to check on her, but she sent them away.

"Leave me alone," she'd whimpered from underneath her bed as _Come Josephine_ played throughout the room. That'd been another strange thing she'd done since her return to base. She tended to sit underneath her bed for hours with Pannie and Gigi and her record blasting while she stared blankly ahead of her in shock or sometimes just cried. She seemed to feel safer hiding under there for reasons unknown to anyone, including herself. "Just leave me alone…"

None of them wanted to, but they really didn't know what to do for her. So they left. She was only crying silently this time, not staring blankly ahead of her with glassy eyes or full out bawling. People went to bed that night almost completely forgetting all about the minor incident at dinner.

It was what happened later that night that really scared everyone.

Every single person in the base was awoken later on in the middle of the night by a blood-curdling scream. People immediately rushed out of bed and into the hallways in their pajamas as they grabbed the nearest weapons. They were half-expecting to see the base under Hydra or just regular Nazi attack and the streets of London through the windows up in flames and under gunfire. Instead, they were met with the stares of the baffled guards by the front doors, all of whom were just as confused as they were as to what was going on, but they assured everyone that the base was not under any sort of attack. No one had either entered or exited the base under their watch since late that afternoon.

Everyone in the base then tried to pinpoint the possible location of the still ongoing scream. Someone must've been hurt, or someone might've snuck inside while the guards weren't looking and were battling against the screaming person.

All those thoughts immediately flew out the window when they realized with horror where the source of the scream was coming from.

Jamie's room.

People rushed to open the door to the little girl's room only to find the poor girl in a state of hysterics. She was still fast asleep, but she was thrashing about wildly in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs as she endured the horrifying realm of nightmares. Her stuffed cat and panda had long since fallen to the floor as she struggled against a mysterious, unknown enemy in the world of her nightmare.

"Stop! Stop!" she screamed out loud in her nightmare. "Don't hurt him! Don't hurt him!"

Steve and Agent Carter both ran in and fought to wake her up. They'd all believe she'd been doing better, but this was nothing short of shocking.

As Steve held her arms down, Agent Carter did her best to shake Jamie awake.

"Jamie! Jamie!" said the young British woman. "It's all right! Wake up!"

Jamie had awoken with a start, and at first, just like when she'd woken up back at the hospital, did not know where she was. She'd screamed louder than ever as she fought against Steve, who was still restraining her so she wouldn't hurt either herself, or him and Agent Carter.

"Get away! Get away!" Jamie had screamed as she tried to distance herself from the young woman.

"J.J.!" Steve had yelled, forcing her attention to turn away from Agent Carter and to him. "It's all right! It's all right!"

Jamie had calmed down immediately upon hearing him.

"It was just a nightmare," Steve went on. "You're safe. Nobody's going to hurt you…"

Jamie looked like she wanted to fling herself into Steve's arms and start crying, but she so happened to glance over his shoulder, and saw almost half the military personnel on the base standing outside her bedroom door, staring at her in both shock and alarm.

Instantly, Jamie's cheeks had flared red hot, and she forcefully tore herself out of Steve's grip before throwing herself off her bed, grabbing her toys off the floor, and diving under her bed as fast as she could.

"Jamie—!" Steve cried out in surprise.

"This is humiliating…" everyone her heard her whimper out from underneath her bed. "Everyone… Everyone's there… This is humiliating!"

That everyone understood that plainly enough. She was embarrassed not only because of the nightmare, but because half of the base had also witnessed her distress because of it. People immediately dispersed.

Steve and Agent Carter made sure everyone was gone before trying to coax the frightened child out from under the bed.

"It's all right," said Agent Carter softly as she and Steve both knelt down at the small closure between the bed and the flooring panels. "Everyone's gone now. You can come out."

Slowly, Jamie crawled out from underneath the bed, took one good look at the two adults she was closest to on the base, before promptly flinging herself into Steve's arms as she started crying.

Steve just awkwardly patted her head. She was shaking from head-to-toe and was very, very pale. Whatever her nightmare had been about, it had frightened her greatly.

"It's all right," said Steve slowly. "It wasn't real…"

"Jamie," said Agent Carter. Jamie slowly turned her head out of Steve's shoulder to look at her. "What happened to you?"

Jamie abruptly stopped crying and froze. She couldn't tell them. Not now. Not right now. If she told them everything that had happened to her, especially regarding her nightmare of instead of herself in the electric chair, it was Trent strapped down, they'd be mad. They'd blame her for leaving Trent behind to die. They might even strip her of her rank in the army, and maybe even her mask. There wouldn't be a Liberty Belle anymore. She didn't want that.

Maybe if it had just been Steve alone in here and he had asked, she would have told him, but he was not the only person in here and it wasn't him that had asked her. It was Agent Carter. As much as she liked the woman, she couldn't tell her.

"No…" she whimpered, burying her face back into Steve's shoulder again as she vehemently shook her head at the mere idea of telling them everything she endured. "No!"

Steve uneasy glance with Agent Carter at that, but they didn't say anything else until they were sure Jamie had once again cried herself into a dreamless sleep. Truth be told, Steve was extremely worried about his young apprentice. Jamie was in a much worse place now than she had been when he first met her. The first time he met her, he literally had to gently coax her out from hiding behind some trashcans because she thought he would hurt her. Now, she was hiding under her bed like a scared little mouse because she was having nightmares of her few days of captivity. It was very worrisome.

It was in the back of their minds that maybe they should have listened to Sergeant Trenton Harper when he came to them and Colonel Phillips a few months ago and told them that they shouldn't have allowed her to go out on the battlefield. He'd said himself that if something bad were to happen to her, she might break. They were starting to wonder if maybe he'd been right.

The next night, most people expected to be awakened with a start in the middle of the night by Jamie having another night terror, but nothing happened. There was not a sound from her room all night, and everyone got a good night's sleep. Everyone except her. Had someone bothered to take a look inside her room that night, they'd have seen her thrashing about in her bed like she had the night before, but this time her screams were muffled by the gag she herself had tied around her face and into her mouth so as not to embarrass herself in front of everyone again.

That had been over a week ago, though, and now Jamie was awaking with a start. Every night this week she'd had nightmares, but thanks to the gag she'd developed, no one ever heard her screams at night, and now she was capable of forcing herself awake when they got really, really bad, instead of being stuck in them until morning.

Jamie sighed as she untied the gag for the moment, and recalled this latest night terror. She'd been back in the cell, and the Hydra leader had been beating her bloody. Somehow, she wasn't quite sure how, she'd found the strength to free herself from the chains, and then started attacking him. She'd been quite vicious about it, actually wanting to make him hurt the way he hurt her. But as she'd been reaching for the gun on his holster, his voice had changed. Jamie barely had caught a glimpse of his face before she aimed the gun at his head and clicked the trigger.

To her horror, the guard had been Trent.

She woke up with a muffled scream upon seeing his head explode because of her.

She reached over beside her, and grabbed Gigi before lightly crying a bit. She wanted Trent. She missed him so much.

Actually, scratch that. What she really wanted more than anything right now was a hug.

She stood up from the bed, and went over to the desk in her room to find her brother's pocket watch. She threw it on over her neck before grabbing Pannie off the floor, and then quietly slipped out of the room while still in her pajamas and both of her toys tucked in the crooks of both of her arms. She had to go and find someone. Anyone. It didn't matter if it was Steve, Agent Carter, Howard, Colonel Phillips, one of the Howling Commandos, or just some other military person she'd never spoken a word to before. She'd just tell them she wanted a hug, and go back to bed. Surely people wouldn't be so mean as to deny such a simple request from her.

The base was very quiet at night. The hallways were all so dark and looming. They didn't exactly echo, but there was definitely an ominous feel to the air, at least to Jamie. She shuddered a bit as she stole down the hall. These halls were reminding her a bit of her cell.

Immediately upon thinking that, she dropped Pannie in order to slap herself.

"Get a grip!" she muttered darkly. "This is the military base! Nothing bad's gonna happen here!"

Having told herself that, she collected Pannie off the floor again, and continued on down the dark hall. There didn't seem to be anyone about. Where was everybody? She knew it was late, but generally, there was always at least someone wandering around at night in search of either the bathrooms, kitchens, or just working late preparing battle plans for the next day.

As she wandered on down the hall, she suddenly saw the lights on from the main room of the base. Her face brightened, and she walked up toward it. Someone was in there if the light was on. She'd just ask them if they could be nice enough to hug her. One hug, and she'd go back to bed.

It'd be as easy as pie.

As she moved to push open the slightly closed door, however, she heard voices inside. Arguing loudly.

"Colonel Phillips, with all due respect, I ask you to rethink this!"

"If you have a better idea on what's to be done about Lieutenant Harper, Rogers, I'd love to hear it! We need to make our move against Hydra!"

Jamie froze when she heard Steve and Colonel Phillips voices. They were inside. Discussing her.

Very carefully, Jamie pushed open the door only a small inch, and peered in through the exposed crack. Steve, Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter, and Howard were all inside, and they all looked both very mad about the topic they were discussing — her — and worried.

Part of Jamie wanted to open the door all the way and go in, but eavesdropping was a habit of hers, and she wanted to know what they were talking about concerning her, so she stayed put where she was, straining to listen through the still mostly closed door.

"All I'm saying, sir, is that I do not believe that Jamie is ready to go back out onto the battlefield," Steve continued. "She's a mess! You saw her earlier today! She saw those guns that the guards brought in and made a beeline to her room! Imagine what would happen if she got upset like that while during a mission!"

"I agree with him, sir," said Agent Carter. "I personally believe that she's in no condition to fight."

"Under normal circumstances, Agent Carter, I'd agree with you and Rogers," said the Colonel, "But time's running out. Zola said Schmidt is bound to make his move around the beginning of March. We can't just sit around and wait for Harper to start feeling better about what happened."

"What do you propose we do with Jamie then, sir?" asked Howard. "Send her back to America? Back to that orphanage?"

Steve shot Howard a furious look at his suggestion.

"That's completely out of the question!"

"Steve—"

"No, Howard. You weren't around yet when Jamie was dealing with the other kids from the orphanage. You don't know how bad things were for her there. We send her back there right now while she's still a mess, and she won't be able to handle it! She'll snap!"

"Steve's right," Agent Carter agreed with a nod. "The children there were perfectly horrid to her. They hit her. Considering all that's happened, that's not something she should be exposed to at this time. After everything she's gone through, she won't do well there. She might even react violently."

"Violently?" Steve repeated skeptically. "She's not violent!"

"I'm not saying she would outwardly attack anyone, Steve," Agent Carter said quickly. "It's just… well, you saw what happened when she first woke up in that hospital…"

"She just came to after being captured, tortured, and God knows what else. She wasn't thinking straight!"

"And that nightmare last week?" she added. "I know she was scared, but if you hadn't been there and restrained her…"

"That was a one-time thing! She hasn't had a nightmare or done anything remotely similar to that since then!"

"Rogers, she has a point," said the Colonel. "I know Harper's obviously still traumatized, but unless something changes with her, we may have to be looking at the fact that she might be permanently messed up in the head."

"With all due respect, sir, I do not believe my partner is crazy. Scared, traumatized, and upset about the death of her brother, yes. But not crazy!"

"Look, Rogers, I feel bad for Lieutenant Harper. I do, but we all can't just sit here any longer. March is in a couple days. Schmidt will be getting ready to launch his last attack. She either needs to start feeling well enough to fight soon, or I'm going to have be forced to take drastic measures and send just you, Captain America, out there alone."

"Drastic measures? What kind of drastic measures?" asked Howard at once.

"Therapy. Maybe… electro-shock?"

Jamie did not listen to anymore after that. She simply turned on her heel, and marched as silently as she could back down the hall to her room. She was forcing herself not to freak out and run. Doing so would alert the adults that she'd been listening to the conversation, and that was something she could not let happen. She'd let the emotional impact hit her once she was back in the safe confines of her room.

Thankfully, she did not meet anyone during her return to her room, and once she was back inside, she shut the door quietly behind her, and moved to crawl underneath her bed. She squeezed Gigi and Pannie tightly as she sat in the dark under her bed, staring wide-eyed at her two toys.

Electro-shock therapy… Colonel Phillips was suggesting electro-shock therapy for her. He wanted to send her back to the electric chair. The electric chair… one of her forms of torture by those Hydra guards…

Jamie wanted to cry, but this time, she did not allow the tears to fall. No… he said he'd only do that if she did not start showing signs of improvement. By the sound of it, he was hoping she would improve by tomorrow if need be, because he wanted to send her back out onto the battlefield. Howard seemed to be a neutral party on that particular decision, but Steve and Agent Carter both sounded like they were firmly against it.

Steve… he had to be thinking that she was not a good protégé. She not only indirectly killed Bucky, but she was dumb enough to get captured, and although he didn't know the details regarding Trent's death, he must be assuming that she hadn't been strong enough to save his life. She was actually now that she was stopping to think about it, a little hurt by this.

She was a good protégé. She could be strong for her mentor again. She could be a good sidekick for him.

But the only way she could prove that to not only him, but to everyone on the base was if she were to come out of this sad state she was in by feeling sorry for herself.

She nodded to herself, and a determined look came over her face. Tomorrow, she would march right up to Steve and Colonel Phillips, and tell them that she was ready to go back out and fight against Hydra. It was just as well, too. She didn't know the particulars that were going on regarding the capture of Doctor Zola, but judging by what Colonel Phillips had said, the Red Skull would be launching the final attack on America soon.

She gripped her brother's pocket watch hanging around her neck firmly and nodded to herself again. She would not just sit here safe and sound and cry on and underneath her bed during that final attack. She would not be afraid anymore. Yes, she still missed Trent, and yes, she wished she had not have left him behind to die, but she wasn't going to stand by and let innocent people die just because she was feeling blue.

She was the daughter of Brandon Reid Harper and Catherine Annabelle Harper.

She was the younger sister of Trenton Anthony Harper.

She was the protégé of Steven Grant Rogers.

She was the First-Class Lieutenant Jamie Elizabeth Harper.

She was Liberty Belle, the sidekick of Captain America.

And she never ran away from doing what was right.

* * *

When Jamie awoke the next day and, for the first time in nearly a month, put on her Lieutenant's uniform before exiting her room with Pannie in her arms and Trent's pocket watch once again around her neck, she was surprised to discover everyone in the base heading in the direction of the main room.

She was extremely confused. She had no idea what was going on. She'd been planning to go and find Steve and the Colonel right away, but it seemed as though something very big was happening. Steve and Colonel Phillips could wait. She was one of the top-ranking military officials in the base despite her age. This took precedence.

"Excuse me!" she called out to an army private as he started to walk by. "What's going on?"

The man jumped upon being called out. He'd never spoken to Jamie before, but he'd seen her around over the past couple of weeks while she was still in shock. He honestly didn't know how to treat her, or if he should or was even allowed tell her what was happening.

He decided that her knowing what was happening would only upset her.

"Nothing, kid," he said gently before trying to move past her. "Excuse me…"

Jamie growled. She was not about to be pushed aside. She had a right to know what was going on. She stepped right back in front of him to prevent him from walking away.

"I asked you a question, sir," she said darkly, her eyes thinned and narrowed.

The private gulped. No one on the base had seen her getting mad like this since before her kidnapping. "Uh, I don't know if I should—"

"I am a First-Class Lieutenant of the United States Army, and you are a private," she spat. "I don't want to have to pull rank on you, but I will if I have to. Tell me! What's going on?!"

The private stared at her now. She had never once threatened to use her rank as a Lieutenant before on anyone. It just went to show how much she'd changed after the entire ordeal.

"Colonel Phillips called a war-council meeting," he said slowly. "He said we can't prolong our attack on the main Hydra base any longer."

Jamie's face went completely neutral with suppressed rage. Everyone was getting ready to launch the big last attack on Hydra. And no one had even told her about it.

Not Colonel Phillips.

Not Agent Carter.

Not Howard.

Not the Howling Commandos.

Not even Steve.

She was livid.

"You're dismissed."

The private quickly nodded before continuing on his way down the hall. He could tell she had suddenly become very, very angry.

Jamie clutched Pannie tightly in her hand and marched down the hall to the main room in the base. It took all her will power not to stomp. She was angry. She was entitled to be angry, but she would not throw a tantrum. She was going to go in there, plop herself down beside Steve at that war council table, and prove to everyone that Jamie Elizabeth Harper was back.

She was back, and was ready to fight.

She entered the main room. Steve, Agent Carter, Howard, and the Howling Commandos were all sitting around a long table that had been brought in for the meeting, and Colonel Phillips was standing at the head of the table beside a large map of the world. Other military officials in the room stood around and were waiting anxiously for the meeting to start.

Colonel Phillips nodded as the last few people in the base entered.

"Seems as though everyone's here," he said in approval. "So, we'll get right to business—"

Jamie immediately coughed loudly from her place in the doorway.

Instantly, every pair of eyes turned to look at her. Jaws dropped as she breezed her way into the room.

"Sorry I'm late, Colonel," she said politely, but still with recognizable traces of rage in her voice as she sat herself down in the last open seat beside Steve at the table. "I would've come sooner, but no one even informed me that this meeting was even happening."

It was impossible to miss the underlying attack in her words, but everyone disregarded it. They were all too stunned to even see her here at all, dressed back up in her uniform and looking strong again instead of sad and scared.

Steve himself was dumbfounded. After the argument that had broken out between himself, the Colonel, Agent Carter, and Howard last night, it had been agreed upon by all four that although Jamie was still traumatized by everything that had happened to her, they couldn't hold off on going after Schmidt any longer. This meeting had been arranged early in the morning so as to keep her in the dark that it was even happening. None of them wanted to make her feel guilty that they had to continue their plans while she was currently incapable of helping at all.

None of them however could have suspected that she'd not only find out about it, but was looking more normal than she had been for the past month, and seemed to be under the impression that she was to participate in the battle plans, too.

"J.J.," said Steve slowly, the first person in the room to get out of his shock enough to say something. "What're you doing here?"

Jamie turned and glared at him.

"That's not a nice thing to say, Steve," she said sharply. "'What're you doing here?' But in answer to your question, I'm here to help!"

"Help?"

People exchanged looks of surprise at that. This had not been anticipated, let alone planned. No one had been expecting the little girl who'd been so sad and quiet this past month to suddenly march right up before the war council started and seem determined to want to start participating in the war again.

"Jamie," said Agent Carter slowly. "We… appreciate the sentiment, but you really don't have to—"

"I'm not just saying this just so I can help with these attack plans," Jamie went on, her eyes now narrowed in Agent Carter's direction. "I mean, I'm ready to start helping with everything. Including going back out onto the battlefield."

Now people were looking really uneasy. She seemed to be doing a lot better right now, today, but who was to say that she'd still be the same tomorrow?

"Jamie," said Howard delicately, "we're all very glad that you seem to be feeling better, but we weren't—"

"You weren't planning to even tell me that the final attack was even happening," she quickly finished. "I'm not stupid!"

There was a long silence at that. She was right, and everyone there knew it.

"Jamie," said Steve. She turned her head to look at him. "You need to look at this from our perspective… You've been… sad… all month." He really had to search for the word. "You've been crying, screaming, and there was a bad instance with that nightmare… I… well, all of us… we're… reluctant to send you back out there at this time…"

No one in the room missed how red Jamie's cheeks went as she clutched Pannie, or how her eyes became very narrowed slits.

She slowly rose to her feet, set Pannie down on the table, and planted both of her palms on the wooden surface. She was boiling mad.

"I'm going to say something," she declared, her voice surprisingly hard and firm. "I'm going to say something. Right here. Right now. And I'm going to say it once, so all of you better shut up and listen!"

Eyes widened at that last bit, but everyone remained silent nonetheless.

"What happened to me back in January was awful," she began, her voice still possessing an edge to it. "It was awful… I will not go into details, because I'm quite sure everyone in this room can guess very well what happened. I lost Trent… He was my big brother, and I _loved_ him… I loved him very much. The only reason why I even agreed to become Liberty Belle is because of how much I loved him. I wanted to help him… I wanted to fight alongside him… But… he's gone now…"

She paused there as her shoulders shook a bit, but she continued on before anyone could say anything to try and comfort her.

"I know… I know that I've been a wreck this past month. I've cried, screamed, gone into shock on several occasions, and there was that awful night with the nightmare… I know I've been a mess… But that does not mean I'm crazy!"

"Jamie—"

"Do not interrupt me, Steve! I am _not_ crazy! I am still First-Class Lieutenant Jamie Elizabeth Harper! I am still your protégé! I am still Liberty Belle! I can still fight! If I don't go back out there and fight, it doesn't matter if we stop the Red Skull or not, because Hydra will still know that they've won! They'll win just from _thinking_ that they managed to break me! Well, they didn't! I am _not_ broken! I can still fight! I will not act afraid anymore! I will fight! I will fight to protect America just the same as any other person in this room!

"Jamie—"

"No, Steve, you are currently not the one to tell me what to do right now!"

" _Jamie!_ You're my apprentice and I say—!"

"The only way I'm leaving this room right now is if Colonel Phillips orders me to! He's the one with the highest ranking here, Steve! Not you! If he orders me, Lieutenant Jamie Harper, to leave, I'll walk out of this room and never mention this again, but I'll do it with my head held high! I will _not_ act afraid of my own shadow anymore! If he orders me to stay and be a part of this meeting, I will sit down and act just as responsible as any other member of the army, and I will add my own insights to this war council! If he orders me to stay, I'll stay! If he orders me to go, I'll go! But _only_ if Colonel Phillips orders me to!"

There was a long silence after Jamie's angry tirade. Everyone in the room was in shock. None of them had ever seen Jamie so determined before, and they were all quite sure that she'd ever tried to pull ranking before.

This new Jamie was something they'd never expected to see from the happy little girl that they'd all seen played under the Christmas tree.

This was not that Jamie. This was the girl that only came forward when she was out on the battlefield.

This was the real Liberty Belle.

Heads slowly turned to look at Colonel Phillips. He still didn't say anything for a while. He really wasn't quite sure what to do. He wanted to send Jamie back out there again. She was the sidekick to Captain America. The genetically enhanced child super-soldier. Sending her back would greatly improve their chances in this final battle. On the other hand, putting Jamie back out into the line of fire when she really wasn't ready could be nothing short of disastrous…

He was silent as he deliberated. Finally, he nodded to her.

"Sit down, Lieutenant Harper," he said at last.

As Jamie smiled and sat back down while putting Pannie back on her lap, Steve got to his feet. He did not look pleased.

"With all due respect, sir, I ask you to reconsider this!" Steve proclaimed. "Jamie's just a little girl! I personally do not believe she's fully capable emotionally of going back out onto the battlefield without…" he paused, trying to find the correct word, _"repercussions…"_

"You're objections are noted, Captain Rogers, but she seems determined to fight, and we need her help. She's staying here."

Steve's jaw went tense, but he nodded and sat back down again. He did not like this. He personally did not want Jamie to go back out there again at this time. She may think that she was okay, but in truth, she probably wasn't. If he had his way, he'd tell her to leave the main room and go back to her own. Unfortunately, though, it was not his decision. It was the Colonel's, and the Colonel had decided to let her stay and be involved.

"If there's no further objections, I'll get right to the point," said Phillips, turning around and facing the map behind him. "Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse. He thinks he's a God, and he's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the U.S.A."

He pointed at their great country to emphasize his point.

"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities," Howard quickly added. "He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour."

"He'll probably try flying on that plane he was building, The _Valkyrie,"_ Jamie added in, bringing all eyes in the room back to her. "My brother told me bits and pieces about it, but from what I gathered, it's a large plane, equipped with various types of weaponry. If the Red Skull is using that to get across the Atlantic, I highly doubt it will take him just an hour to wipe out the Eastern Seaboard. I'd say… half-an-hour, if not less than that…"

There was a long silence at that. Everyone knew that the youngest person in this room was right.

"How much time we got?" asked Jones after a few moments.

"According to my new best friend," said Colonel Phillips, referring to Doctor Zola, "under twenty-four hours."

"Where is he now?" asked Falsworth.

Colonel Phillips pointed at a particular place on the map behind him.

"Hydra's last base is here. In the Alps. Five hundred feet below the surface."

Jim sighed. "So what are we supposed to do?" he asked. "I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door."

Steve had been listening to this discussion quietly as he shuffled through the copies of the maps lying in front of him. He'd been silently deliberating every possible plan, but Jim's words had just given him a very wicked idea.

"Why not?" he said at once. All eyes turned to him. Especially Jamie's. He was reluctant to say his plan, considering it would most likely end with himself and Jamie getting captured, but it was probably the best plan there was. "That's exactly what we're going to do."


	10. The Final Battle

**It's the penultimate chapter, people. The next chapter is Steve and Jamie's awakening, which means that this first adventure is almost over. After that, we move on to the first Avengers movie, which I'm really looking forward to writing. I have _lot_ planned out for Jamie in The Avengers Assemble. It's going to be awesome!**

 **As always, let me thank my wonderful reviewers:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My Number One Fan)**

 **\- storiesarebetter**

 **\- DragonessGem (You Have Officially Upgraded Yourself Just From Being a New Reader To Being My Number Two Fan! Congratulations!)**

 **\- Lee163**

 **Your reviews make me feel that this story is worthwhile! I thank you for always leaving them, and I ask all other readers to be nice enough to follow their example! Please leave reviews! I love to read them!**

 **Disclaimer for Liberty Belle is available in Chapter Two.**

 **Happy Reading and Reviewing!**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: The Final Battle**

"You know, you can turn back now, Jamie. Everyone will—"

"It's Liberty Belle while I'm in costume, Captain!"

"Fine. Liberty, you can turn back now if you want. No one will think less of you…"

"I'm coming with you, Captain! There's nothing you can say that'll change my mind!"

"But Libby—"

"No, Captain! I'm coming! I'm your protégé! I'm coming with you!"

The early winds of March breezed through the air. Steve sighed as he watched Jamie slip her brother's pocket watch into a pocket of her dress and climb into the attached sidecar of his motorcycle. He really wasn't all that comfortable with this. He had no qualms of just going and attacking the Schmidt's last Hydra base all by himself, but he really didn't want to take Jamie with him. She was insistent, though. Somehow, the little girl that had been an emotional train wreck for the past month had overnight changed into a determined little thing. She wasn't actually mean to anyone, per say, but she definitely wasn't the same little girl she'd been before her kidnapping. He was very worried. People, especially little kids, do not just change overnight like that if they've endured something truly traumatic. He wasn't sure what it was that caused this drastic change in her personality, but he didn't like it. He was actually wondering whether or not his young apprentice was hiding something.

He'd voiced his concerns to Colonel Phillips. Phillips had been sympathetic, as she was still just a little girl at the end of the day, but he would not budge from his decision to put her back out onto the battlefield.

"It's one last battle, Rogers," said Phillips when he saw Steve sigh in frustration at his constant denial to not extract her from the battle plan. "One last battle. She just needs to keep her shit together for one last battle. After that, she can lose her cool again, and we focus our attention on her, but for now, we need her for that one last battle against the main base."

Steve sighed again as he climbed on top of his motorbike and tossed her a safety helmet. She set her torch down on the seat next to her as she caught it. No one could deny the look of pure joy on her face when she'd been reunited with her choice of weapon.

"I know you want to help, Liberty, but… I'm worried. I'm worried about you."

"Well, don't be!" she grumbled, strapping the helmet on over her spiky crown as she spoke. "I'm fine! I want to help! So, I'm coming! I'm coming whether you like it or not! We have to stop the Red Skull! Especially before next month!"

"Next month?" Steve repeated, puzzled.

"Next month is April. My eleventh birthday!" she explained. "If we finish this whole thing today, we can stop the war in Europe before my birthday!"

Steve sighed for a third time. "All right, but on one condition."

"What?"

"You do exactly what I tell you to do. If I tell you to duck, you duck. If I tell you to hide, you hide. If I tell you not to do something because it's too dangerous, it's too dangerous. And above all, if I tell you to run away and save yourself, you run. Do you understand me?"

Jamie's snappish attitude came to a crashing halt. She blanched completely upon hearing the last phrase of words. He wanted her should they get into a tight spot to run away and leave him there? That was exactly what she'd done to Trent. She wasn't sure she could agree to that.

"B-but… But Captain—!"

"This is not negotiable. I happen to take your safety out on the battlefield very, very seriously. I may not know the full details about what happened to you during your captivity in January, but whatever it was that happened, I'm not going to let it happen again. If you do not promise to agree to these terms, then I don't care what Colonel Phillips says; you're staying right here."

Jamie frowned. She had to verbally agree to this if Steve was to take her with him during the final assault on the Hydra factory as they went after Schmidt. That did not mean, however, that she would do it. She had to lie, because at the end of the day, she would not do to Steve what she'd done to Trent. She'd lost her brother. She would not lose him, too.

"I promise," she lied with a convincing nod.

Steve smiled, and gently patted her shoulder since the protective helmet covered up her head.

"Good," he said kindly. "Then let's go get Schmidt."

He started up the engine, and they took off alone down the road.

For a long time neither of them spoke. They simply drove on down the forest path across the Austrian border in absolute silence as they whipped their way past so many trees still carrying a touch of wintery magic. Their plan for getting to Schmidt was simple. The two of them, Captain America and Liberty Belle, were going to storm the main base alone as a distraction, and get captured by the Hydra guards. While that was happening, Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter, and the rest of the Howling Commandos would launch a sneak attack on the base during all the chaos, and they'd take the entire place by surprise.

No one in Hydra would anticipate the sneak attack.

The plan was flawless. It would work. It _had_ to work.

Before too long, however, they slowly overheard the sound of an entire team of motorcycles zipping up behind them. The sounds drew steadily closer, and a sudden flash of blue pinged off of Steve's shield, which was secured to his back. Steve and Jamie glanced over their shoulders. There was an entire legion of Hydra agents all in black tailing after them on black motorcycles of their own.

"Keep driving, Cap!" Jamie shouted, pulling out her torch as she spoke. She'd been amazed to discover how much she missed the weapon during her month-long state of shock. It was good to have her old friend back in her hand again. "I'll take care of these jerks!"

"We'll do it together!" Steve shouted back, clicking a series of special buttons on the bike.

Instantly, a great coil of wire shot out from the back engine, and attached itself between two trees across the road. Most of the agents were able to duck underneath the wire, but two of them were literally launched into the air off of the bikes when they collided straight into it. The others tried to continue after the two super-soldiers, but Jamie was now firing off fireballs from her torch. One Hydra agent was completely set on fire thanks to her, while the other in the process of trying to dodge her flaming balls of fire, accidentally drove his bike right into a large boulder. He fell headfirst over his motorcycle and onto the ground.

Jamie growled. Other than those two idiots, the rest were successfully managing to dodge her fireballs. She'd have to change her tactics. That's when a wicked idea popped into her head.

She quickly aimed her torch at one of the three Hydra agents that were nearest to her and Steve, and rapidly fired of a fireball before adjusting her torch and firing off on either side of him as well, thereby forcing him to remain in place and take first ball of fire head on. He screamed as the fire burned him, and he, too, like many of the other members of his squad, fell from his bike. By pure chance, one of the other two fireballs was still going, and collided up against another rider, taking him out as well.

There were now only two guards left. Again, Jamie aimed her torch to try and deal with them, but they both suddenly veered right off the path.

"They're trying to overpass us!" Jamie shouted to Steve as her eyes trailed after the two Hydra guards that were actually managing to breeze right past them in the trees.

"Don't worry, I see them!" said Steve as the guards came back onto the pathway, now way ahead of the American super-soldiers. "I have a plan!"

Jamie never got a chance to reply to that, because Steve was now speeding up the bike to drive right between the last two motorbikes. As they now were the one's overpassing them, Steve leaned over towards one of the Hydra guards, and proceeded to yank out the pin from one of the grenades hanging out from the guards' pockets before quickly resuming to speed on past them. Jamie barely had enough time to whip her head around to just catch a glimpse of the inevitable explosion of the grenade. The two riders were completely incinerated, as were their bikes.

Jamie sighed in relief and turned back around. Their tag-alongs were gone. That was one problem solved. The main problem was what they were rapidly approaching. The main Hydra base was dead ahead of them. They couldn't quite see the fortress just yet, but there were large, slightly slanted concrete walls surrounding it, and they were swiftly approaching the main gate. Speaking of the main gate, there was a tank rolling out of it, and was preparing to fire.

"Duck down!" Steve shouted to her as he jerked his shield off of his back and placed it directly in front of him on the bike's handles as a means to protect himself. Jamie didn't hesitate to comply. She whipped her head down into the safe confines of the passenger sidecar as the Hydra tank let out a huge stream of blue energy. The attack thankfully bounced harmlessly off of the shield, but the tank kept firing off more blasts. To Steve and Jamie's immense relief, these attacks didn't hit them.

Steve waited until they were a tad bit closer to the tank before pressing another button on the control button of his bike. Two grenades shot out towards the tank. Moments later, the entire machine exploded, sending flames and embers flying in every direction and great clouds of gray smoke billowing out from it.

Steve ignored the enormous explosion. He drove himself and Jamie right around it and toward the slanted sidewalls of the base, and drove the bike right up them.

"Hold on!" Steve yelled to his young apprentice as they reached the edge of the wall, and flew right off of it.

Jamie couldn't stop herself. She shrieked a tiny bit in fear and grasped her torch tightly in one hand, and held onto the side of the passenger car tightly with her other so as to avoid falling out. This lasted only momentarily, though. Just as soon as she was reaching the peak of her fear, they both landed back onto the ground on the other side of the wall with a loud thud. The Hydra agents inside had been unprepared for them to storm the base in such a way, and some of them were somewhat startled.

Immediately, there was a great chaos between the guards as they all tried to pull their Hydra weapons out from the holsters on their hips, and began firing the blue energy at the motorcycle with its attached sidecar. Steve and Jamie didn't pay them any attention. The two of them just simply waited until Steve had driven the bike into a somewhat open area in the front yard of the base, and then they leaped away together from the bike and onto the solid ground. The motorcycle simply continued driving on down to the steel set of front doors that were the main entrance into the factory. Without a rider, the bike couldn't stop, and it crashed right into the steel-plated doors. The minor explosion that followed not only left a gaping hole in the doors and connected walls, but knocked out some nearby guards both outside and inside the factory that were unfortunate to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Steve and Jamie ignored the explosion as they scrambled back up to their feet. They didn't have time to waste dwelling on it. In less than half-a-second, they were no longer Steve Rogers and Jamie Harper. They were the Dynamic Duo. They were Captain America and Liberty Belle. They were the genetically enhanced super-soldier of today, and the child super-soldier of tomorrow. They were here. They were ready for this final battle.

Upon standing again, Steve quickly flung his shield at the closest Hydra agent in range that was preparing to fire another wave of blue energy. Just as the shield came ricocheting back to him, Jamie twirled her trusty torch in her hand before pressing and holding down on the special button of her torch. Instead of fireballs, the flaming sword erupted, and she waved the stream of flames at several Hydra guards attempting to rush them from behind. They both immediately leaped back at the tips of the flames licked the skin on their hands and faces, effectively burning them. She released the button as they fell to the ground in pain.

She knew she could have kept the fire burning and allowed them to burn to death, but she would not do that. What happened to her back when she was kidnapped was terrible. Very terrible. She had had to kill that Hydra squadron leader to stop him from beating her brother, and she'd killed so many men while during her escape of the base.

That had been a one-time thing, though. With the obvious exception to the Red Skull once she and Steve found him, she would never again take a human life. She just couldn't do it. She wouldn't. She'd only ever kill one more person again. Nobody else.

Jamie had no time to stop and muse on her no-killing motto. More guards were attempting to rush her. She had to hold up her torch in order to fend off a punch from another guard. The guard growled at the quickness of the small child, and then tried to hit her again. It was pointless. Jamie's enhanced eyesight saw him start to move to strike her before he was even aware of the fact that he was even moving his body. In the blink of an eye, she dodged to the left, raised her torch up high, and whacked him upside the head with its blunt end. The guard fell to the ground, now knocked out cold. Jamie didn't wait for someone else to try and attack her next. She leaped in the air over his fallen body, and zipped over to help assist Steve in tackling a group of three guards attempting to surround him.

Their teamwork was remarkably impeccable. They were now mostly fighting hand-to-hand against the guards, but together the two super-soldiers were driving back the vast majority of the Hydra forces all by themselves. If one of the vile villains were getting to close to either of them, the other would step in and take the Hydra agent out. Steve and Jamie had each other's backs, after all. With Steve's shield acting very much like a boomerang whenever he threw it, he was more than capable of taking out the guards that were quite some distance away and aiming at the two of them with their Hydra weapons. Jamie meanwhile would use her torch to either send out more fireballs at the ones attempting to charge them, or swat them away with her fire sword. Occasionally, she wound up missing the guards as they dodged the two different types of fire attacks, so she'd be forced to put her torch back into its special holster on her hip, and do combat with her fists instead. Steve sometimes had to do the same if more Hydra forces broke through their defenses.

Single punches from either one of them onto the face of a guard could knock out both of their front teeth, and kicks to the abdomen from the adult and child super-soldiers left many men with several broken ribs and internal hemorrhaging.

"Liberty! Behind you!" Steve shouted suddenly as Jamie promptly knocked out yet another guard.

Jamie whirled around with her torch raised and ready to defend herself from the fists of another dumb lackey Hydra soldier, but she was surprised when she realized that the guard behind her wasn't trying to start a fight. He was holding up what looked like two huge blowtorches, and before Jamie could do anything to try and stop him, great beams of fire shot out from the ends of both them. It was a bit similar to how her own torch created a flaming sword.

"Captain! Run!" she shouted as she spun on her heel to try and find another way around them.

Steve was about to yell to ask her what she meant, but they were both surprised when they saw on the opposite side of them a second guard. Like the first guard, he too was carrying two blowtorches, and was letting out great streams of flamethrowers. Both guards moved just a couple inches forward until the tips of the flames were touches the tips of the flames from the opposing pair of blowtorches. They were now effectively trapped.

After a couple seconds, the flames slowly dispersed, and all the guards in the courtyard were rushing to form a very large circle around Captain America and Liberty Belle. Each one had their guns or Hydra weapons raised and ready to fire should the two super-soldiers refuse to cooperate.

Jamie whimpered a bit. This reminded a tiny bit of back when she was initially kidnapped a couple months ago. Steve gave her a wary look. She was holding it together, but she was definitely a little nervous. He knew he shouldn't have brought her.

"Both of you!" shouted one of the guards. "Drop your weapons! Now!"

Slowly, Steve and Jamie set their shield and torch down on the ground.

"Hands in the air!"

The adult and child soldier raised their hands slowly over their heads in defeat. They both knew that their best chance at survival at the moment was by surrendering themselves over peacefully.

"They're going to take us to Schmidt. Don't say anything out of turn," Steve whispered to his little protégé as four of the guards rushed forward with their weapons still drawn on them. "In fact, don't speak at all. Let me do all the talking."

Jamie barely had enough time to give him a discreet nod in confirmation before the guards were forcing the two of them to the ground as they bound up their wrists into matching pairs of silvery handcuffs.

The guards then motioned for them to stand with the edge of their guns.

"On your feet!" he spat.

Wordlessly, Steve and Jamie both stood up, and were roughly manhandled by the guards to march inside the building as another guard hurriedly along after them with their shield and torch.

Jamie was completely silent as the guards escorted them into the building and into an elevator. She was doing her best not to have a full out panic attack. On the outside, she appeared to be strong and angry at getting captured and was glaring through her blue mask at the guards as they felt the elevator slowly rise a great number of levels in the base, but underneath her mask and on the inside, she was a complete mess. She wanted nothing more than to start screaming in fear. She was captured again. Hydra had captured her again. They were taking her to see the Red Skull. This was all part of the plan, she knew, but she couldn't help the dread feeling that was seeping through her. When she stopped and thought about it, he was currently the only one other than that Hydra squadron leader that had tortured herself and Trent that could make her feel such vast amounts of fear. The way he'd laughed at her when she screamed upon seeing him rip his synthetic mask off of his true face… It was a rather daunting thought for her, but she knew she had to be brave. She wasn't the same little girl she had been back in November when she first saw him. She was stronger than she was back then. She was most definitely braver.

There was a loud 'ding' when the elevator reached the topmost floor of the base, and the doors slowly slid open. The two guards that were minding Steve stood on either side of him with their hands firmly planted on his arms to prevent him from trying to make a possible escape, but they did not force him along as they walked. They granted him the courtesy of being able to walk himself along. Jamie's guards on the other hand, were the exact opposite.

"Walk, brat!" the guard on her right snapped. He grabbed her by her elbow, and tried dragging her along down the hall.

"Get your hands off me!" she snipped, trying to pull away from him. The guard on her other side quickly jammed the end of his Hydra blaster into the small of her back.

"Keep talking sass, Miss Liberty! Just do it!" he warned.

Jamie tripped upon hearing the 'miss' part. It took all her willpower not to completely freeze up. It reminded her too much of being back in that dark cell, and that Hydra guard constantly calling her it as he either beat her or electrocuted her.

Steve threw her a nervous look. He could tell something they'd said had upset her, even if she was hiding it very well.

"Just do as they say, Liberty," he ordered.

Jamie paused to nod to him before shooting a dark look at the guards, but she didn't protest this time when the guard squeezed her arm tight and kept dragging her down the hall, nor did she open her mouth when the other guard kept his weapon firmly planted on her back in case she were to try anything. She just kept her mouth shut. She was doing her best not to turn into a weeping, sniveling ball of tears.

They finally entered a room at the very end of the long hallway. It was very open and airy, with large ceiling-high windows on the backmost wall that all overlooked the scenic view of the nearby snowcapped mountains just outside of the base. There was also a fair share of machinery in here, giving the room what should have been a nice atmosphere a haunting one, what with the dark lighting and many shadows stretching across the room.

Not to mention the fact that the world's most evil super-villain was standing at the base of the windows and looking out at the snowy landscape while they entered.

It wasn't until the guards finally had Steve and Jamie stop fully in the exact center of the room did the Red Skull turn away from the windows and look over at them. He chuckled, and strolled up to them.

"Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait," he sneered tauntingly as he sized up the young man and little girl before him in their red, white, and blue super hero costumes. "But I must say, you two do it better than anyone."

Steve did not reply to the jive. He just kept his eyes firmly locked on Schmidt. If he were to die here today, by Schmidt's hands, he would not die a coward. He would die as a brave soldier of the United States Army. That was all he ever wanted.

Jamie did not do anything. She was an emotionless doll to everyone. She did not react to his cruel taunt. She did not cry at the fact that she was captured. She did not cower away from the frightening face of her and Steve's archenemy as she had the first time she met him. She did not glare at him even though he was probably the wickedest man alive, even wickeder than that Hydra leader that tortured her and Trent for days.

She just stood at attention, but did not do anything.

"But," the Red Skull went on, now looking directly at Steve as he spoke, "there are limits to what even the two of you can do, Captain, Liberty. Or did Erskine tell you both otherwise?"

"He told us you were insane," said Steve at once.

"Ah," said the Red Skull with another chuckle as he sized up the only other fully-grown man on earth with the super-soldier serum running through his veins from head-to-toe. "He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. But he gave you, and this small child here—" He paused there, taking a good, long and hard look at Jamie. She still did not react to him. "—everything."

Steve did not reply to that comment. He just glared at him coldly.

"So, what made the two of you so special?"

Steve scoffed. "Nothing," he replied. The Red Skull frowned. "We're both just a couple kids from Brooklyn."

This was evidently not what the Red Skull wanted as a response. He roared, and swiftly punched Steve hard in the jaw. Steve didn't even get a chance to recover from the blow before the Red Skull was striking the other side of his face, and then landing a fast jab at his stomach. Steve fell to his knees as he coughed lightly while struggling to regain his breath. The wind was completely knocked right out of him.

As the Red Skull loomed over him with a smirk on his face, Jamie literally had to force her eyes to stare firmly at a spot on the wall so as to still seem emotionless. One look at her mentor on the ground like that, and her resolve to remain strong and fearless in front of the Red Skull would abruptly snap. She couldn't look at him.

After a moment, Steve looked back up at the red-skinned, evil man.

"I can do this all day."

This made the Red Skull snicker. "Of course you can, of course," he agreed. "But, unfortunately, I am on a tight schedule, so I'm going to move on."

He then turned to look at Jamie.

"Liberty Belle," he said mockingly at Jamie. "I must say, you have become quite interesting to me. The only child in the world with Erskine's serum coursing throughout your body. You were designed to become even stronger than myself or your precious Captain America one day, and yet, you've been captured by my agents not once, but twice now…"

Jamie did not say anything in reply. She just stared blankly ahead of her.

Receiving no response, the Red Skull continued. "I'll admit, I was furious when I found out that you'd been captured by my men but that I was not informed until after you escaped. They were all dealt with accordingly, but I must say, you must've been so upset by what happened to the young man who was with you?"

It took all of Jamie's willpower not to react to that statement. She knew he was only bringing up Trent to get a rise out of her. She had to stay strong. Emotionless. She would not get upset with him. She'd show this man just how much she'd changed since the last time they were face-to-face.

The Red Skull smirked at her, and slowly squatted down so that his face was level with hers.

"Such a shame, really… A young, strong man like that… He could have had his entire life waiting for him if he simply hadn't tried to rescue you when you were captured. It's a shame. Truly, a shame…"

That was the last straw. Jamie snarled at him as she spat a good amount of spit right into his eye.

"Go fuck yourself in the deepest pits of hell!" she spat, ignoring the shocked look she was getting from Steve. She'd not only just spat on him, but she swore, too.

The Red Skull lunged at the little girl, all but lifting her off her feet as he wrapped both his hands around her tiny throat. Jamie tried to scream, but she could not get the air to move out from the back of her throat. She gasped for breath and tried to pry her hands free from the guards that were holding them back to prevent her from struggling.

"Bas… Bastard!" she wheezed. "You… You're a… a bastard!"

The Red Skull smirked, and removed one of his hands from around her throat so as to reach into the inner pocket of his sleek black trench coat. He pulled out a tiny Hydra pistol. Just like its larger counter-types, it, too, was sure to spit out great rays of blue energy.

"Perhaps," he agreed, noting the fact that he was the squeezing the little girl so tight that her face was beginning to turn from red to blue from lack of oxygen as he aimed the tiny pistol at her forehead. "Charming last words…"

He smirked, his finger ready to click down on the trigger—

There was a sudden noise outside the window. The Red Skull lowered the pistol for a moment as his attention was diverted away from Steve and Jamie. Had he still been looking at the adult and child super-soldiers, he would have noticed the very subtle smirk they both exchanged.

Dum Dum, Falsworth, and Jones were all racing down on pulleys on zip-lines from the upper mountains straight toward the windows.

"Not her last words," said Steve.

With a great burst of energy, Steve broke away the thin metal of the handcuffs connecting his wrists together, and promptly swung one of the guards still attempting to restrain him around so he would be directly in front of him. The Red Skull, startled a bit from the impending intruders and this sudden movement happening at the same time, not only released his grasp on Jamie's throat, but also fired his Hydra weapon at the guard that Steve had jerked in front of him, disintegrating him instantaneously. As Jamie fell to the ground and fought to regain control of her breathing once again, the three members of the Howling Commandos came crashing in through the windows.

As enormous chunks of glass began flying and their rescuers began firing off rounds from their machine guns, chaos erupted. The Red Skull promptly forgot all about Captain America and Liberty Belle and took off out of the room and down the hall before anyone could stop him, and the other Hydra agents released their holds on Steve and Jamie so they could rush for the nearest form of cover before firing their own weapons. Steve quickly grabbed Jamie's wrists, and forcefully tore them away from one another so as to break apart her own handcuffs.

"Thanks, Cap!" she said appreciatively as she rubbed her wrists.

"No problem!"

"Rogers! Harper!" Falsworth called out. "You both might need these!"

He had located Steve's shield and Jamie's torch during the midst of the battle, and tossed both items to the two them before returning his attention to firing off rounds at a Hydra agent that had been trying to sneak up on him.

"Thanks!"

"Thank you!"

Reunited with their weapons, Steve and Jamie both began dashing down the hallway to try and catch up with Johann Schmidt, a.k.a., the Red Skull. As they raced through the hallways of the base, they would continuously stop and do their best to help out in the series of mini battles going on between Hydra operatives and the invading American soldiers who were storming the factory. More often than not, Steve and Jamie would easily surprise the unknowing Hydra guards preoccupied with firing their advanced weaponry blasters at the American soldiers, and with swift knocks to the head from Steve's shield or quick incinerating burns from Jamie's torch, they successfully turned the tides in the battles.

They didn't have time to stop and hear their fellow soldiers thanks, though. They had to catch up with the Red Skull. So the two super-soldiers just nodded to their friends after each time they did this, and then kept on sprinting through the base to continue their search for the evil Hydra leader.

It didn't take them long to track him down. They found him in one of the many long corridors. He'd found a discarded larger Hydra weapon and was firing away at a small group of American's as they tried to enter the building. When the Red Skull caught sight of Steve and Jamie running straight towards him, however, he immediately stopped firing at the American platoon and continued running again. The Dynamic Duo chased after him, hot on his heels. Every now and then as they chased him he'd whirl around and run backwards for a couple seconds as he shot off a bit of blue energy from the large Hydra weapon he'd found, but Steve would either deflect them away with his shield, or Jamie would simply proceed to twirl out of its way.

The Red Skull eventually managed to reach the end of the long hallway, and tried to close a set of electronic steel doors behind him as he ran through them in a meager effort to prevent Steve and Jamie from following him through to the connecting room. Before the door could completely shut though, Steve ran forward, and hurled his shield at the closing entryway to prevent it from shutting any further.

"Quick thinking, Captain!" Jamie commented.

The young man and the little girl were about to dash straight up towards it, but at that moment, another Hydra agent jumped out from another room. He'd somehow managed to find the blowtorches that had been used to trap them earlier for their brief capture when they'd personally stormed the base by themselves, and was now using them to let out great jets and streams of fire. Steve and Jamie both had to duck for cover in the entryway of another side room to avoid getting roasted.

"Fuck…"

"Swear word, Captain! But I'm going to ignore it for the moment… What do we now?" Jamie said, chancing a sparing peek back out into the hall as she spoke to catch a glimpse of the guard.

The Hydra agent was still steadily walking towards them, and the flamethrowers were still pretty hot and powerful. In a matter of mere seconds, he'd be able to turn and incinerate them both alive.

Before Steve could answer her, the sound of rapid gunfire suddenly resounded throughout the hallway, and hastily followed by a rather loud explosion. Steve and Jamie both winced when they felt the heat wave from the explosion zoom right past them in their temporary hiding spot. As soon as the heat and flames died off, they ran out from their hiding spot and looked out. More Americans being led by Agent Carter were making their way down the hall and past the flaming dead body of the Hydra soldier that had been using the blowtorches.

Steve and Jamie both smiled when saw her.

"Agent Carter!" called out Jamie eagerly.

"Liberty Belle," said Agent Carter kindly. Then she looked up expectantly at Steve.

He just grinned at her. "You're late," he said simply.

She smiled somewhat shyly. But then she remembered where they currently were.

"Weren't you both about to—?"

"Right!" Steve agreed. He nodded in farewell to the woman who had long since captured his heart, and seized hold of Jamie's free hand before dragging her behind him for a couple seconds until he was certain that she, too, was actually running alongside him again. They were heading in the direction that the Red Skull had fled, and they only stopped for a quick spell when Steve had to dislodge his shield from being stuck between the electronic doors.

They both hurried between them before they could close, and when they did close, they closed with a brief snap, as though they were shutting the door on anything that would possibly stop them from chasing the Red Skull to the fiery pits of hell.

They ran and ran on together until they reached the end of this second hallway. At the end of it was a large aircraft hanger. There was one massive aircraft that was gathering up power in its engines. It was beginning to move out from where it was stationed in the open hanger, and starting to head towards the outside, snowy mountainous world.

"The _Valkyrie…"_ Jamie whispered, a tiny bit awestruck by the sheer size of the airplane. She'd never seen the plane in person before, but somehow, she just _knew_ that she was right. This was the massive plane that she'd only received bits and pieces of information about.

Steve didn't say anything in reply. He just nodded and motioned for Jamie to follow. They didn't have time to stop and chat about it. The Red Skull was on that airship, and he was speeding up on his plans to wipe out all of America. They had to stop him.

But before they could do that, they had to reach the plane first, and the only way to do that was by getting across the large battlefield in the hanger of the American army versus the Hydra agents. To the surprise of many, Steve and Jamie were completely unfazed by the possible danger of running straight into the line of fire. With determined yells from the adult and child super-soldiers, Steve and Jamie both charged straight into the middle of the battlefield in their unwavering effort to reach that plane. Any Hydra agents that attempted to bar their path would either find themselves whacked aside by Steve's mighty strong shield, or quickly burned by either Jamie's flaming sword or fireballs.

As they started approaching some discarded ammunition crates in all the pandemonium, Steve suddenly noticed a large chain hanging over it, large and loose enough to swing on. He smirked as an idea came to my head.

"Jamie! On my back!" he shouted.

Jamie didn't know what he was planning to do right then, but she knew he had a plan. She didn't even ask him to stop so she could climb onto his back. There was no time. She just onto him as they kept on running.

"Hold on tight!" he ordered.

He ran right up to the box, leaped on top of it, and grabbed hold of the chain as he jumped off again. The Dynamic Duo soared through the air high over the battlegrounds. Many people stopped battling for half-a-second when they saw the superhero mentor and sidekick fly over them, but they really didn't have time to marvel at the sight. This was war, and if they hesitated for more than a second while during combat, they'd surely die. They just grinned at the two super-soldiers before continuing to fight.

When the chain finally stretched at the end of the line, Steve jumped off of it before it could go completely taut. He barely allowed Jamie to clamber down off his back before he grabbed her hand and began dragging her along so they could keep running again. Thanks to his quick thinking with the chain, they'd mainly cleared the vast majority of the battlefield, and they could not dash as fast as they could toward the airship without any further interruptions. With the exception of when Jamie had been escaping from the Hydra base she'd been imprisoned in, she and Steve were pushing themselves faster than either of them had ever dared to go before, pushing their biologically enhanced superior bodies to the utmost limits so they could force their legs to run even faster than that. But it was no use. Despite how genetically altered they may be to be the world's perfect adult and child soldiers, even they — at their top speeds — were unable to match the speed of an airship that had been designed to reach over a hundred miles per hour in a few short seconds.

Jamie soon had to tug her hand out of Steve's grip as she came to a complete stop, bending over double with the hand not clutching her torch on her knees while she struggled to catch her breath.

"I… I can't…" she heavily wheezed out. "I can't… keep going…!"

Steve turned when he felt her hand leave his. He, too, was out of breath, and was heavily panting as he stared after the _Valkyrie._

"We… we can't let Schmidt get away…" he breathed.

"But… what can we do?" said Jamie, glancing back up at him. "We'll… we'll never catch up to… to the plane!"

But luck was on their side. No sooner had the words left her lips did a sleek black car suddenly come whirling up next to them, and came to a stop by their sides. Colonel Phillips was in the front seat and driving, and in the backseat was Agent Carter.

"Both of you! Get in!" the Colonel shouted.

Steve and Jamie didn't need to be told twice. In fact, Steve didn't even give his young protégé a chance to even obey the command. He simply scooped her off her feet, and literally dropped in the backseat beside Agent Carter before leaping over the door and getting into the front seat beside Colonel Phillips. Phillips didn't even wait until Steve was fully seated before he began zooming off after the plane.

The car was apparently Hydra made, because the Colonel clicked a button beside the steering wheel while in the midst of still failing to catch up to the _Valkyrie,_ and the car suddenly lurched forward with an extra bout of speed. Thanks to that curious discovery, they were catching up to the plane, which by now was almost reaching the outside world to begin lift off. Colonel Phillips all but slammed his foot down on the gas pedal to force the car to drive even faster.

Steve slowly rose up from his seat, and began climbing out of the car so as to be standing on the exterior part of the passenger door, but made sure to keep one hand firmly on the dashboard to avoid falling out. He shot a quick look at Jamie over his shoulder still sitting in the backseat.

"On by back!" he ordered his sidekick again. She nodded, and as she moved to stand back up, he turned to the Colonel. "Keep it steady!" he shouted.

"Wait!" shouted Agent Carter suddenly.

Steve turned back around, and Jamie stopped attempting to stand. The first thing Agent Carter did was grab Jamie and hug her tightly. In almost the full year she'd known the little girl, she come to think of her almost like her like she was a member of her own family. She wanted to say a proper goodbye to the girl before she went off with Steve.

Speaking of Steve, just as soon as she released Jamie, she gently grabbed Steve's shoulder to bring her down closer to her, and then pressed her lips against his. It wasn't one of those mind-blowing kisses that you read about in books or the kiss of true love that you see in the movies. It was just a quick, loving kiss. Not a kiss that meant it was goodbye forever since the man she loved was about to go into what could very well be his last battle.

It was kiss that promised that there would be more to come. It was a 'see you later,' kiss.

Sure enough, as soon as she pulled back from Steve after no more than a few seconds, she smiled warmly to him.

"Go get him! Both of you!" she said encouragingly.

Steve was actually a bit taken aback. He'd never imagined that the first time he kissed Agent Carter would be in a car in front of Jamie and Colonel Phillips, and while they were driving to catch up to a plane that Hydra had built to carry a great number of bombs that would wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard of America.

Jamie, giggling and scrambling to climb onto his back, snapped him out of his slight shock.

"Come on!" she urged. "You can kiss her again later! After we win!"

To everyone's surprise, Colonel Phillips actually agreed with her, because he started laughing.

"Yeah! I'm not kissing or hugging either of you!"

Steve blushed, but quickly threw his shield over Jamie on his back to protect her. They were going to have to slide underneath some of the rapidly rotating propellers to get up there.

Sure enough, as the car drove forwards to the plane, Steve had to slam his entire body on the hood of the car to avoid being beheaded by the propellers as they approached them. Jamie whimpered a bit, but kept both her hands, including the one holding her torch, wrapped firmly around his neck and did not move her head even an inch from where she tucked it in. One wrong move as Steve slid underneath the propellers, and she could be dead.

The Colonel helped as best as he could. He couldn't drive the car too fast or else he or Agent Carter would be torn to shreds by the fast moving blades, but he did jerk the car forward a few more inches to help Steve and Jamie safely slide out from that dangerous spot. It worked. Within a second, the two of them were away from the blades, and Steve was leaping onto the back wheels of the ship as it slowly took off from the ground.

As they took off into the air, Steve and Jamie took a moment to spare a glance back behind them. The car, thank God, had managed to skid to a halt at the very end of the runway. Although they were now so far up and off the ground that they could barely see Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter, they two super-soldiers knew without a doubt that they were still down there and looking up at both of their dangling bodies as the plane flew away from the mountain, most likely praying to the heavens that they would survive this last mission and at last put an end to the reign of the Red Skull.

"Do not let go of me, Liberty!" Steve shouted to Jamie over the roaring wind. "No matter what! Do not let go of me!"

"I won't, Captain!" Jamie shouted back. She wrapped her arms even tighter around Steve's neck to emphasize that she wouldn't.

Slowly, Steve — still carrying Jamie on his back with his shield strapped over her — began to climb up the metal riggings that connected the back wheels to the rest of the ship, searching desperately for a way to get both of them inside. Just then, an area underneath the ship suddenly opened up.

"Why'd it open?" Jamie shouted curiously.

"I'm not sure," Steve shouted back. "Let's just get in!"

Jamie nodded, and he climbed further up the plane. Within a couple minutes, he was hoisting his body through the new hole, and quickly unstrapped his shield from his back so Jamie could climb down.

They seemed to have climbed into what appeared to be the cargo hold of the plane. Very quietly, the two of them crept along the darkened storage area. They were amazed to discover that there was tons of tiny, one-manned operated atomic bomb missiles in here, and each one of them was labeled for which American city it would be striking: Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and, worst of all, Steve and Jamie's home city of New York.

Jamie couldn't stop the alarmed gasp that escaped her lips. "The Red Skull… he's planning to have Hydra agents pilot each of these at each city!" she whispered in horror. Steve did not respond at all to her statement. He was simply too shocked to say anything.

A door suddenly opened from somewhere nearby, and Steve and Jamie both quickly ducked for cover. There was a sudden sound of various, swift footsteps, and then they watched as a few Hydra agents entered the room and move toward the missiles. They were getting ready to do what Jamie had just guessed: pilot each missile at its intended city on the Eastern Coast of the U.S.A. They couldn't just sneak quietly past these guards. They needed to stop them now so those missiles would never leave the ship.

The two of them promptly sprang into action. As soon as the last two guards passed by their hiding spot, Steve and Jamie both leaped forward and knocked the two of them out. The other Hydra agents whirled around, shocked to see Captain America and Liberty Belle on the plane. The nearest guard quickly unsheathed a knife from its holster on his hip, and made a quick jab in Jamie's direction. Jamie ducked to avoid the blade, and as soon as she leapt back up, she hurtled her torch out towards the guard and whacked him in the face with it.

The Hydra agent went tumbling backwards as the agent behind him came rushing forwards. Steve took over, and sent a powerful kick right at his abdomen. The agent went sprawling to the metallic floor of the plane as the last member took off running towards the nearest missile.

"Not so fast!" Jamie shouted.

As the agent whose nose she'd broken with her torch tried to shakily stand back up, she hit him again to stop him momentarily and seized the knife he had tried to stab her with out of his hands. She aimed carefully in the span of one second, and sent it flying towards the escaping Hydra agent. Thankfully, she did not miss, and the knife sank deep into the enemy's back. It wouldn't kill him, but he'd definitely be in too much pain to try and get up. She had no time to celebrate her victory, though, as the agent from before was trying to attack her again.

Meanwhile, one of the Hydra agents that Steve and Jamie thought they'd knocked out when they first surprised them got to his feet and made a beeline to the missile intended to strike Chicago. Steve shoved aside the agent he'd been fighting hand-to-hand with, and dashed over to what looked like the control panel, and pressed the button that opened the doors underneath the Chicago missile. The agent was still in the process of climbing inside, and he scrambled to grab hold of the pipes hanging above him as the missile fell harmlessly down in into the North Atlantic. He was not strong enough to keep holding on, and he, too, fell down into the gaping hole right behind it, screaming at the top of his lungs the entire way.

The remaining two guards continued attacking Steve and Jamie. Finally, Jamie managed to grab hold of the arms of the agent that'd been attacking her.

"Captain!" Jamie called out to Steve over her shoulder. "Captain! Help me with this jerk!"

Abandoning his fight with the other Hydra agent for the moment, Steve ran towards Jamie and the Hydra operative she had pinned down. He grabbed the guard by the waist, and Steve threw him out into the suction of the gaping hole where the missile to Chicago had once been previously.

The last Hydra agent, however, took Steve's moment to assist Jamie as an opportunity. Before Steve or Jamie could do anything to try and stop him, he scrambled to get inside the missile bound for New York, and began firing it up.

"No!"

"Liberty! Stay here! Make sure the others don't fly off in the rest!" Steve ordered Jamie, tossing his young apprentice his shield. As the missile began to descend down from the plane and into the blue sky, Steve dived on top of it as another guard jumped on top of him, and began trying to break apart the glass that protected the thug from the wind whipping past as he tried to steer the missile.

Left alone on the sidelines for Steve to somehow miraculously return, Jamie set down her torch and her mentor's shield, and ran up to the control panel. She had to get rid of the rest of the bombs. It didn't matter if Steve managed to stop that one particular atomic bomb missile. So long as the rest were still here on the plane, the other Hydra agents could wake up at any given time and go pilot them. She really didn't have the slightest clue about which buttons to press, but she pressed everything on the control panel once. Lights flashed overhead each bomb, but the doors underneath them opened, and they all fell harmlessly out of the _Valkyrie_ and into the water below.

With that finally done, Jamie retrieved her torch and Steve's shield, and then moved to stand a bit closer to one of the gaping holes and see what was going on during Steve's sky battle on top of the missile. By the looks of it, he was first trying to get the guard that had him pinned down on top of the missile off of him, and the guard inside the missile was doing some loop-the-loops to shake Steve off. He didn't care that it would also kill his coworker, too. He just wanted the famed Captain America off his missile-plane so he could do his job.

Steve managed to grab hold of one of the wings of the tiny plane to prevent himself from falling off, but the other guard wasn't so lucky. He screamed as he fell through the rapidly moving blades of the propellers. There was nothing left of him after he'd gone all the way through. Just a lot of blood falling through the air behind the bomb and stickily coated on the blades. Steve didn't look back at that. He just forced open the hatch leading into the bomb. The Hydra agent inside was startled, but was unable to stop his assailant from grasping the emergency escape lever, and the plane sent him flying out of it and further up into the sky momentarily before tumbling back down over thirty thousand feet in the air towards the blue sea.

Jamie watched anxiously as Steve then climbed inside the one-person seat of the missile, and closed the hatch behind him with a snap. She felt really useless. There was nothing she could do to help him right now. She watched as he began flying the missile back in the direction of the main plane. As he did, swift blasts of blue energy began firing from the main weapons of the plane itself and straight towards Steve. Her hands flew to her mouth to keep from screaming in fear as she watched her kind mentor fly the bomb to avoid the blasts.

Why, oh why did she have to be so useless? There was nothing she could do to help him right now, she knew, but that just made her feel so pathetically useless.

Steve flew through the clouds as he dodged the blue beams of energy while trying to get back to the _Valkyrie._ He was not concerned at all. He was going way too fast for those blasters to hit him. And he could see the main opening back into the plane. He tilted the control stick down another inch, forcing the plane to go even faster. Just another few seconds, a few more seconds and he'd back inside.

He tilted the control stick down a bit more and—

Crash! The entire bomb went zooming through the large hole as he crashed landed it back inside the airships' hangar. Jamie screamed a bit in worry as she tightened her hold on his shield and her torch, and ran right up to the missile.

"Cap!" she squealed as Steve popped out of the hatch and began to climb out. "Captain! A-are you hurt?!"

"Don't worry, Libby. I'm fine," he replied, taking his shield back from his protégé. "Sorry for scaring you."

"No kidding! I thought… I thought maybe you were dead when I saw you crash back in here!"

"Sorry," he muttered. "But enough about me. We need to go take care of Schmidt."

"Right!"

Together, Steve and Jamie slipped quietly down the main passage of the _Valkyrie_ in their efforts to find the cockpit. It took them a couple minutes, but they found the door, and Steve silently opened it a few inches so he and his partner could peek inside. It was a large room, the cockpit, with an enormous front window for the pilot to look out of, and the control panel of the plane was directly against it, though hidden away a bit by a great black chair. That was no doubt where Schmidt was right now. Sitting there and steering the massive plane. Several feet behind it in the exact center of the room there was a rather large pedestal glowing with bright blue light and energy. The same type of blue energy rays that was seen whenever a Hydra weapon was fired.

They had to keep quiet. The Red Skull might hear them if they were to say anything or make a possible loud noise, so Steve and Jamie crept along quietly down the few short stairs leading back up to the hallway, passed by the strange pedestal, and all but tiptoed up to the chair. Silently, the two super-soldiers raised their shield and torch, both of them prepared to strike within a moments notice, but to their immense surprise, the chair was empty. They had no time to dwell on this though, as a noise suddenly sprang up behind them. They both whirled around to see the Red Skull aiming a large Hydra weapon at them.

Jamie's enhanced eyes were able to calculate the approximate speed of the energy blasted toward her and Steve the second the Red Skull, and easily, but also swiftly, she twirled away out of the range of the blast long before the energy was anywhere near her. Steve just swiftly raised his shield as a means of defense in the nick of time. The attack bounced harmlessly off the vibranium metal. The Red Skull laughed when he saw they were both unharmed.

"You two don't give up, do you?" he sneered.

"Nope!" said Steve angrily.

"Never to you!" cried Jamie furiously.

They both charged straight toward him. The Red Skull continuously kept firing off great beams of blue energy at the Dynamic Duo, but Jamie would effortlessly twirl out of their designated paths or Steve would simply deflect the beams with his shield. They ran like this until they were both directly in front of him.

Steve made the opening move. He first knocked the Hydra weapon out of the Red Skull's hands with his shield still on his arm, and then tried to whack the red-skinned man upside the head with it. While the Red Skull was unable to prevent Steve from knocking aside his weapon, he was also a genetically engineered person himself, and was able to block the strike to his head. Jamie then tried to launch a kick into his abdomen, but he easily dodged the child's attack, and did not hesitate to punch her in the jaw. She stumbled back woozily from the force of the blow. The Red Skull tried to hit her again, but Steve jumped in front of his young apprentice to protect her, and began exchanging punches with the grand leader of Hydra. It took her a couple seconds to regain her composure, but she found it relatively quickly, and moved to rejoin her mentor in fighting the evil man.

In all of Jamie's battles since becoming the child super-soldier known as Liberty Belle, this battle against the Red Skull was by far the toughest one she'd ever faced. Even though it was a two-against-one fight, Steve and the Red Skull were both adults and were therefore evenly matched when pitted against each other. She, on the other hand despite also being genetically enhanced, too, was still just a little girl. She was never created to fight up against an older, genetically enhanced person such as the Red Skull, or even Steve for that matter. Erskine's formula, which had been designed specifically for her because she was still only a kid, had been made so that as she grew up, she'd one day grow to be even stronger than Steve. She had been designed to one day surpass him by spending approximately the next ten years of her life in strict physical training. She was very strong already, no doubt about it, but she'd only trained alongside Steve in brief spells this past year. She'd first spent the beginning few months of her new life performing on that USO tour Senator Brandt had arranged, and then after rescuing Trent, Bucky, the other Howling Commandos, and those other four hundred plus men from that Hydra factory back in November, she had been sent straight out onto the battlefield. Steve was her boxing mentor in addition to being her Captain America mentor. He taught her everything he could in addition to training himself, but he'd never had a long stretch of time to ever really train his young protégé as she was supposed to be trained in order to one day surpass him. There had never been enough time.

She could hold her own for the moment while fighting against the Red Skull, but that was only because she was fighting alongside Steve. She was quite certain that if she were fighting him one-on-one, she would surely lose.

Jamie could literally feel her tiny, hardly trained body tiring fast as the fighting continued. Her muscles were screaming for reprieve, and every spot in her body where the Red Skull managed to land a strike on her ached greatly. She made a weak attempt to try and leap backwards and out of the way of the fight just for a moment in order to try and catch her breath, but the Red Skull noticed that she was tiring, and took advantage of it. He seized one of her arms, and threw her straight towards a nearby pillar. She struck it hard, and fell rather ungracefully down onto the floor of the aircraft. She lost her grip on her small torch when she landed, and it rolled a slight distance away from her.

"Liberty!" Steve shouted.

He tried to run to her, but the Red Skull blocked his path, and made an attempt to knock his shield out of his hands. Despite how worried he was about Jamie after landing like she had against the pillar, he had no choice but to continue fighting. He leapt backwards to avoid the blow, and tried to kick his and Jamie's arch-nemesis in the chest.

Everything in Jamie's line of vision blurred before her eyes as she struggled to sit back up again. Even though she was physically spent from pushing her genetically enhanced body to its utmost limits in this battle, the pain in her body from hitting the pillar really didn't hurt as much as it should have. It was simply that she knocked her head against it when she landed. She was pretty sure she didn't have a concussion, but it would take her a moment or so to collect her bearings again. As she struggled to refocus her eyes again, she watched, a bit dazed, as Steve shoved the Red Skull up against the control panels to the aircraft. He fell against them, and accidentally bumped the steering wheel down. Jamie sensed the plane beginning to tilt downwards a bit, and she barely had enough time to seize hold of her torch and cling tightly upon the bars of some piping close to her before the entire aircraft began a rapid nosedive downwards.

Steve and the Red Skull were not holding onto anything at the time of the sudden rapid descent of the plane, and they were both sent hurtling back up against the back wall from the abrupt change in gravity. They didn't care about their current predicament; they just began wrestling together on the wall. They exchanged some more punches and kicks at each other, but the Red Skull managed to score one lucky good jab, and Steve was sent flying right beside Jamie.

Jamie knew she couldn't just sit here and not doing anything. She had to try and help. She raised her torch, and fired off a couple of fireballs in the direction of the red-skinned villain. The Red Skull was successfully able to dodge most of them, but part of one did manage to graze the side of his arm as he tried to claw his way back up against the ceiling and one of the walls to reach the control panel and level out the plane. He growled a bit from the burn, clearly in pain, but judging by the twisted, angered expression upon his scarlet-colored face, not as much as she would have hoped him to be.

Having defied the forces of gravity, the Red Skull managed to make his way back up to the controls, and quickly fixed the steering wheel so that the plane was nice and even again. All three of them were sent plunging back onto the ground as the plane straightened out once more.

Steve quickly got back up on his feet again, but Jamie struggled to stand. She was still a tad bit dizzy from hitting her head. The Red Skull did not care that she was still out of commission from her injury. He could tell that she was still rather dazed and confused. He drew a small Hydra pistol from its holster on his hip, and aimed it directly at her.

"You both could have the power of the Gods!" he roared. Steve saw where and whom he was aiming at: Jamie, his little protégé. He barely had enough time to scoop the little girl up in his arms and leap out of the way before he fired. Blue energy zapped through the air, and hit the pillar they'd just been standing next to.

"Thanks, Cap," she moaned, rubbing the tender spot on her head. Her vision was clearer now, but still dancing a bit.

"Quick! Get on my back!" Steve ordered. Jamie did not hesitate to comply. She knew she was in no condition to so much as stand up by herself at the moment. The Red Skull fired the Hydra pistol again, and Jamie clung to Steve's neck tightly as he dodged another beam of blue energy. He had to reach his shield again. He'd lost in between the shift of gravity and the wrestle on the ceiling.

"Yet the two of you wear flags on your chests and think you fight a battle of nations!" the Red Skull continued, firing again. Again, Steve dodged the attack. "I have seen the future, Captain, Liberty! There are no flags!" He aimed again, but this time, Steve ducked to avoid the beam.

"Not our future!" Steve shouted back.

"It's your delusional fantasy!" Jamie all but screamed.

As Steve jumped to the side to avoid another blast, Jamie forced her eyes to focus, and raised her torched high and true around Steve so he wouldn't get hurt, and fired off more fireballs in the Red Skull's direction. As Steve reached his shield lying on the floor back near the stairs, the Red Skull dodged Jamie's attack, and tried firing again at the adult and child super-soldiers. Now at last reunited with his shield, Steve held up his shield and deflected the attack, and then sent his weapon whirling directly at him.

Even the Red Skull was incapable of dodging this attack in time. It struck him straight in the chest, and he was sent flying backward, landing hard on his back against the pedestal still giving off that strange blue light. All at once, there was a great surge of blue energy around the pedestal upon his impact, and he was sent flying away from it, but this time it was because of the shockwave of energy.

Steve allowed Jamie to slide off his back since she was feeling better, but when she tried to take a step forward to get a closer look at what was happening, his arm quickly barred her path. He didn't know what was going on exactly, but if whatever that light was turned out to be dangerous, he did not want her anywhere near it.

The two of them watched as great amounts of blue energy surged up and around the small pedestal, and then something slowly rose up from somewhere deep inside it. It was small holding shelf, it seemed, and upon it, there was a very small, brightly glowing light blue cube that seemed to be formed of pure waves of blue energy all mixed together. It looked compact enough to be held in just one hand if needed, and it seemed like it gave off great amounts of power.

Jamie's eyes widened when she saw the Cube. She knew immediately what it was, even if Steve didn't. There'd been an entire section in that Norse mythology book she'd bought herself that explained what it was. She'd even proposed to Colonel Phillips and the other adults in the base that this could be what Hydra was using to power its weapons, but Phillips hadn't believed her. He said it was just a legend. How wrong he'd been, it seemed.

"The Tesseract…" she whispered, staring at the legendary cube from Norse mythology in complete awe.

Steve briefly glanced down at her in confusion. Unlike her, he wasn't sure what that thing was exactly. The Red Skull, on the other hand, was staring horrified at the suddenly exposed Cosmic Cube.

"What have you two done? No!" he cried.

Steve and Jamie didn't answer him. They didn't know what that meant, not even Jamie. She may have read about the Tesseract briefly in her Norse mythology book, but other than that, she didn't know all that much about it. Not as much as the Red Skull did, apparently.

Their enemy stepped forward, and picked the Cube up. He began inspecting it to see if there was any damage done to it. After a few seconds of this, the Tesseract began glowing brightly. All three people in the cockpit stared, transfixed, as great spasms of blue energy began rising up out of the Tesseract. They all jumbled together directly above him, creating what looked to be a large portal, because on the other side of the portal and from where they were standing, Steve and Jamie could catch a quick glimpse of the great, infinite cosmos.

As the energy continued building up from around the Tesseract, Jamie tore her eyes away from the sight and looked up at Steve.

"Captain! What's going on?!" she screamed, greatly frightened.

Steve just shrugged, but did not look away. He honestly had no idea.

"I'm not sure!" he yelled back.

Again, the energy kept gathering. It gathered together so much that it began to burn through the glove the Red Skull was using to hold the Cube, and he began to scream in pain. The burning did not just stop in his hand. It traveled up through his arm, and then towards the rest of his body and face, and the Red Skull continued to yell in pain.

There was a great flash of white light. Steve abruptly looked away in order to shield his eyes, but Jamie did not dare to look away from the sight. She didn't care if this light permanently blinded her. She needed to see this. She watched, mystified and yet thoroughly confused, as the white light began to slowly devour the Red Skull's whole body. He arched his entire body backward, roaring in pain, as he was literally burned alive. More blue energy erupted from the Tesseract. He was lifted a few feet up into the air, and then, with an even greater flash of light than before, he vanished completely.

Jamie blinked several times, clearing away the spots dancing in front of her eyes as Steve finally dared to look back at where the Red Skull had been standing not even ten seconds ago. Unlike their arch-nemesis, the Tesseract hadn't disappeared with a flash of light. It was still there, hovering in midair. Neither Steve nor Jamie dared to approach it after what had just happened. The Red Skull had touched it, and now there wasn't a trace of him to be seen. Then, quite unexpectedly, it dropped from the air, and fell upon the metallic flooring of the plane. The blue energy is was made of burned right through the metal, and it fell again, this time through the entire metal framework of the plane, and down over thirty thousand feet in the air into the vast, endless ocean far below.

"He's… he's gone…" Jamie whispered, very much shocked. She glanced down at the hole left behind in the floor from the Tesseract. "It's gone…"

Steve didn't reply to her shocked comments. He simply strolled forward, collected his shield from where it fell after striking the now missing Red Skull, and then hurried forward toward the controls of the plane.

"Jamie!" he said, setting down his shield and hurrying to yank off his cowl as he slumped down in the pilot's seat. "Come on! We have to figure out a way to land this thing!"

"Y-yes, Steve!" she said, snapping out of her shock.

She ran up beside him, and set her torch down beside his shield before taking off her own mask and spiked crown. She wished there was another seat in the plane so she could sit down, too, but she would not ask to trade places. Between the two of them, he was probably the only one who could figure out what to do with all the complicated-looking controls.

"W-where are we, right now?" Jamie asked anxiously as Steve began examining the displays on the control panel. He looked a bit overwhelmed by all the displays and buttons, but she continued talking. "How far are we exactly from New York?"

Steve didn't answer her right away. He just kept looking at all the different flashing lights and monitors. Finally, he spoke. "In answer to your first question, I think we're coming up on Greenland…"

"Greenland?"

"Yeah… as for your other question, I don't know exactly, but if I were to guess judging how fast this thing's flying, we'll be there pretty soon…"

"Oh, no!"

"No shit."

"Don't swear!"

"If this isn't a time for swearing, then I don't know what is…" Steve paused at that, seemingly lost in thought. Then he remembered something. "Quick! Turn on your mouthpiece! We need to contact the rest of the squad!"

Jamie nodded, and clicked the small mouthpiece in her ear on at the same time as Steve.

"Come in," said Steve earnestly into his tiny microphone. "This is Captain Rogers. I am with Lieutenant Harper. Do you read me?"

" _Captain Rogers, Lieutenant Harper,"_ they heard someone that sounded suspiciously like Jim say back. _"What is your—"_

" _Steve, is that you?"_ they heard Agent Carter say suddenly, cutting Jim off completely. _"Are you all right? Is Jamie with you? Is she hurt?"_

"I'm here, Agent Carter! We're both fine, don't worry!" said Jamie at once.

"Peggy," added Steve excitedly. "Schmidt's dead!"

Jamie gave him a puzzled look at those words. She didn't understand why Steve told her that. They didn't actually kill the Red Skull. It was more like the Tesseract had somehow transported the super villain to some other faraway dimension. She opened her mouth to clarify this to Agent Carter, but Agent Carter was already talking again.

" _What about the plane?"_

She and Steve exchanged uneasy looks at that question. "That's… a little bit tougher to explain," said Steve after a moment.

" _Give me your coordinates,"_ said Agent Carter. _"I'll find you two a safe landing site."_

Steve tried to look over the many displays to figure out which one was listing the planes' coordinates, but his eyes soon fell upon another display. The display that showed the number of missiles that were still on board. Jamie noticed which display he was looking at, and took hold of his hand, squeezing it gently. They both had reached the exact same conclusion. If they were to continue flying this plane, those missiles would soon detach, and would eventually go off to hit the major cities on the entire east coast of their beloved United States.

"I… I don't think there's going to _be_ a safe landing, Agent Carter," said Jamie somewhat nervously.

"Jamie's right," Steve agreed. "But I can try and force it down."

" _I'll get Howard on the line,"_ she replied promptly, but they could both hear the nervousness in her voice. _"He'll know what to do."_

"There's not enough time," Steve said back. "This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York."

Steve hesitated after this. He knew what he had to do, but not only did he not want to say it to Agent Carter, he'd also be saying it in front of Jamie, and he did not want to scare her. Jamie… she was only ten-years-old. She'd told him earlier that day that she'd be turning eleven next month. She had a whole life ahead of her. He didn't care all that much what happened to him, but she did not deserve this. She may be a genetically enhanced child super-soldier, but at the end of the day, that's exactly what she was: a child. No child deserved to die just so others could live.

Jamie seemed to realize what he was thinking, and squeezed his hand again to get his attention. He turned to look at her, and was surprised to see the kind, although still a bit frightened smile on her face. She tapped here earpiece to say the words that her mentor did not have the courage to say.

"Steve has to put her in the water," she said, forcing her voice to remain strong.

" _Please, don't do this,"_ said Agent Carter, and this time, there was definitely desperation in her words. _"We have time. We can work it out."_

"Right now, Jamie and I are in the middle of nowhere," Steve said. "If I wait any longer, a lot of people are gonna die."

There was a long silence from the other end of the transmission. They both knew that Agent Carter knew that they were right. She just didn't like that they were. Jamie tapped her mentor on the shoulder, and then nodded to him. This was to be his final goodbye to the woman he loved. He shouldn't waste it.

Steve smiled to his young protégé, and then continued talking into the mic.

"Peggy," he said softly, "this is our choice."

Again, there was no reply from the kind young woman.

Very carefully, Steve took out his compass with Agent Carter's photo inside it, and Jamie rummaged around in the pockets of her dress until she found her brother's pocket watch. They both opened the tiny trinkets so they could look at the photographs during these last final minutes, and placed them on the dashboard of the control panel. Steve then slid over a bit in his seat so Jamie could sit down beside him. As Jamie took his silent offer, he adjusted the steering wheel, forcing the plane to make a fast nosedive downwards.

"Peggy?" Steve called out again.

" _I'm here."_

"I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance."

" _All right,"_ she said sadly in reply, and Steve and Jamie could both hear the tears in her voice. _"A week, next Saturday, at the Stork Club."_

"You got it."

" _Eight o'clock on the dot,"_ she made sure to add. _"Don't you dare be late. Understood?"_

Steve lightly chuckled. "You know, I still don't know how to dance," he said.

" _I'll show you how. Just be there,"_ she said faintly.

"We'll have the band play something slow," he promised. "I'd hate to step on your feet…"

There was a sad laugh on the other end of the line.

Jamie had just been staying quiet this entire time. She didn't want to ruin this last farewell between her mentor and Agent Carter, so she just smiled sadly at her brother's picture. She would be joining him in just a few minutes, after all. As the plane broke the cloud coverage, however, an awful thought crept into her head as she looked down at the rapidly approaching field of icy glaciers floating on the waves.

She didn't _want_ to be rude and ruin this moment between the two adults, but she _had_ to. This was important. She couldn't die here on this plane without asking this.

"A-Agent Carter!" she said quickly. Steve looked down at her in surprise, but she paid him no mind. "Agent Carter! I-I-I'm sorry to interrupt, but… but this important!"

" _Jamie?"_ repeated the British woman, still sounding sad, but now also puzzled by the interruption.

"Again, I'm sorry, but… I need you to do me something for me!"

" _Anything, Jamie. What?"_

"It's just… I know that there'll never be a proper burial for Trent, but… But can you arrange for there to be a memorial stone of some kind beside my parents graves…?"

There was a long silence from the opposite end. Even Steve was looking surprised by the request. No one expected her to ask that.

Jamie took the silence the wrong way, and began to cry.

"I… I understand if it's impossible… I understand…"

" _No, Jamie,"_ said Agent Carter quickly. _"No, of course I'll do that for you. I promise."_

"Thank you!" Jamie began to sob. "Thank you, Agent Carter… My parents! My parent's names are Brandon Reid Harper and Catherine Reid Harper… They're buried next to each other in Cypress Hills Cemetery… Have the memorial stone put up next to their graves!"

" _I'll arrange everything, don't you worry,"_ Agent Carter assured her. _"Is… Is there anything in particular you'd like to have inscribed on it?"_

"Yes…" Jamie whispered as the plane began to quickly drop down on a particularly long stretch of ice. "Trenton Anthony Harper, amazing baseball player, beloved son, and… and the world's best big brother…"

" _Of course. Consider it done."_

Jamie sobbed again. "Thank you… Thank you so much…"

And with that, she shut off the link.

Steve looked over at her. They'd be in the ice field within the next minute. He tried to pat her shoulder. He didn't want her to cry.

"Jamie—"

" _Come… Josephine…"_ she suddenly began singing between her tears. " _In my… flying machine… And it's up she goes… Up she goes…"_

Steve frowned. He would not have that. He would let her think in her last minute on earth that it was all right to take a song she generally loved and twist it into a way that would haunt her as she died. It was her favorite song. So long as he was sitting here beside her, he'd comfort her some in other way than that.

"Shh," he whispered, gently removing one of his hands from the steering wheel, and wrapping it around her shoulders.

Jamie looked up at him with teary eyes. She was so scared. She knew that this was necessary to save the lives of a countless number of people, but she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her face.

"Steve…" she sobbed. "I'm scared…"

Steve gently smiled at her. "Me too," he admitted.

With a loud sob, she promptly wrapped her arms around his middle, and buried her face into his Captain America uniform as the plane descended down onto the ice, unwilling to look at the ground as they crashed.


	11. Rebirth

**At last, it's done! The first adventure is done! I know this last chapter is the shortest one out of the entire story, but it's just a couple scenes, so of course it's short.**

 **I know I posted chapter ten just this morning, but I really wanted to finish this story today, because today means that it took me exactly one month to carve this whole thing out! I'm so proud of myself. Not just because of how fast I wrote this, but because I know that I wrote with quality, too.**

 **I'm going to start off by saying that the first Avengers movie will be on hold for a while. It's just going to be a week or so. My Mom and I are trying to get moved by this Fall, and I need to do some packing around the house before I get back to writing again. Again, this will only be for a week or so, then I'll get cracking again on the next Liberty Belle story in the series. I will not abandon Liberty Belle! I have a lot planned for Jamie in the Avengers!**

 **Before I thank my reviewers, I'd like to stop and thank three very special people here on FanFiction for their encouragement with this story:**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl (My Greatest Fan!)**

 **\- DragonessGem (My Newest Big Fan!)**

 **\- ML143 (She's currently in the middle of drawing a coverart for Liberty Belle)**

 **Really, thanks you guys! I couldn't have written Liberty Belle without you!**

 **Now, on to thanking the two people who reviewed the last chapter in the span of five hours it took from setting aside things in my life to carve this last chapter out.**

 **\- ZabuzasGirl**

 **\- Cameo M. Wolf**

 **Thanks for reviewing. Please everyone, follow their example and review this last chapter! I'd be so happy if you'd write something encouraging for this final chapter of the first adventure! Please and thank you!**

 **Stay Tuned For The Upcoming New Story: Liberty Belle: The Avengers Assemble.**

 **Happy Reading!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: Rebirth**

When people think about death, they immediately imagine a rather painful experience followed swiftly by a long, dark tunnel, which they will have to walk through to reach a warm, bright light. They imagine that the walk itself is a very long and hard, and that the only thing on their mind is just making it toward that beautiful glow at the other end of the tunnel. The glow that promises warmth, happiness, and peace forevermore.

Never do they imagine that instead of walking, they're lying down on something warm and soft, while the tunnel echoes the words of what sounds like an announcer for a baseball game.

" _Curve ball, high and outside for ball one,"_ said a voice that sounded like it came from a radio. _"So the Dodgers are tied, 4-4. And the crowd well knows that with one swing of his bat, this fellow's capable of making it a brand-new game again."_

Jamie groaned lightly, not wanting to open her eyes. She felt so comfortable. She had yet to find that bright light in the tunnel, but she was content to keep floating along in the darkness to find it. She didn't mind dying. Wherever death took her, Trent, her Mom and Dad, and surely Steve was waiting for her there, too. She had to keep her eyes shut and ignore the weird voice. So long as she did that, she'd be with all of them soon. She just had to disregard that strange, annoying voice.

" _Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbet's Field,"_ the weird radio voice went on. _"The Phillies have managed to tie it up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on."_

Jamie groaned again. Louder. Whatever that voice was, it was preventing her from continuing to find the promised warmth of eternal rest. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad to open her eyes just for a second. She was dead anyway, she'd just hit whatever annoying spirit was trying to haunt her, and then close her eyes again.

Two seconds. She'd be looking for the light again in two seconds.

Very slowly and with another groan, she groggily opened her eyes.

To her immense surprise, she was not in some dark enclosure of death, nor was she still sitting down beside Steve in the pilot's seat of the _Valkyrie._ She was in a small bedroom that she'd never seen before, and was lying down on a small ironwork bed, and was wearing a clean set of clothes with the logo of the SSR stamped across her little t-shirt, and a beige skirt. Steve was also in the room. He was in a bed directly beside hers, and was still fast asleep. He, too, was also wearing a fresh t-shirt with the SSR logo on it, and beige cargo pants. There was a white ceiling fan with three blades beating steadily against the ceiling, giving the room a cool atmosphere, but it was really unnecessary, because there was also a steady breeze blowing in from the window beside Steve's bed. Through the window, she could see some buildings in the distance, and hear cars driving and honking at one another, even if from where she was at she couldn't see the street down below.

The radio voice she'd heard whilst still fighting to stay asleep was on a small dresser on the other side of the room, along with what looked like her brother's silver pocket watch. The radio was tuned to the live coverage of a baseball game, and was still droning on.

" _Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn't the youngster like a hit here to return the favor?"_

Jamie slowly looked around. She had no idea where she was. She'd never set foot inside a room like this before. To be completely honest, she wasn't even sure how she and Steve were even still alive after crashing the _Valkyrie_ into that ice field in Greenland. By all retrospect's, they should both be dead. How did they survive?

That question could wait for now, though. The first thing she did was slowly rise to her feet, and walk across the room to see her brother's pocket watch. It was undamaged, thank God. Still shining nicely and its chain was untangled. She threw it on over her neck before crossing the room to Steve's bed. She may not know where they were, but he might. And even if he didn't, she needed her mentor to be fully awake and functional before she did anything further. Whether it was to answer any questions from their army associates or reporters, or possibly escaping from what could be a cleverly disguised room somewhere in a Hydra base, she needed Steve awake.

The last thought brought a chill to her spine as she lightly shook Steve's shoulder. She was really hoping they hadn't actually been captured. She'd already been kidnapped once, and held captive before the Red Skull shortly before they crashed the _Valkyrie_. She really didn't want to have to add a third kidnapping into her memory.

"Steve," she whispered, knowing all too well that there could be Hydra guards right outside the door to this tiny room. "Steve! Wake up!"

Steve groaned in his sleep at the force of her nudges to his shoulder, but still kept his eyes shut.

She didn't have time for him to be heavy sleeper. They could be in serious danger. She whacked his shoulder rather hard.

"Wake _up!"_ she hissed.

Steve groaned again, but this time it was from her hitting him. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and he sleepily glared at his young protégé.

"Jamie, why did you—"

"Where are we, Steve?"

Immediately, his annoyance turned to concern from seeing her confused, scared expression, and he shook away his sleepiness and sat up on the edge of the bed. As he looked around the room they were in, his gaze also turned to pure confusion.

"Steve," Jamie whispered. "Steve, where are we?"

"I… I'm not sure," he said. "You're the one who woke me up, remember?"

"I just woke up seconds ago and saw we were in here. I don't know how we got here."

Steve looked like he wanted to say more, but the announcer on the radio caught his attention, and he turned to look at it.

" _Pete leans in. Here's the pitch… Swung on! A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score… Reiser heads to third. Durocher's going to wave him in… Here comes the relay, but they won't get him!"_

Steve's eyes widened. He knew this game. He'd attended it himself back in '41. Something was very wrong here.

Jamie saw his expression, but was puzzled. Unlike him, she'd never attended this Dodgers game. Trent and her Dad were the die-hard baseball fans in her family, not her and her Mom. Sure, her parents would sometime buy tickets for the whole family to occasionally see ball games in the summer, but oddly enough, her father and older brother had been Yankees fans, not Dodgers. She didn't know what it was about the radio that was troubling her mentor.

"Steve?" she asked quietly.

Steve opened his mouth to tell her what he knew, but at that moment, a rapt knock resounded from outside the bedroom door. Steve and Jamie both turned their attention to it as the door started to open, though Jamie instinctively moved a bit closer to Steve as it did. After her first kidnapping experience, she was a bit nervous about these current events.

It turned out she didn't really have anything to fear. Only one person entered the little bedroom. A rather pretty young woman with curly dark brown hair, and appeared to be in her early twenties. She smiled sweetly to the two super-soldiers.

"Good morning," she said rather kindly, shutting the door behind her. Steve and Jamie didn't say anything back, but she checked the watch on her wrist, and chuckled softly. "Or, should I say afternoon?"

Steve and Jamie stared at her for a moment before glancing at each other. Neither of them had ever met this woman before, and Jamie cowered even closer to Steve because of it.

Steve recognized his young apprentice's discomfort, and quickly took charge of the situation.

"Where are we?" he asked, somewhat hesitantly.

"You're both in a recovery room in New York City."

Jamie glanced over at Steve, still sitting down on the edge of his bed, and then looked back over at the woman. Even though she didn't know what he knew about the baseball game on the radio, she could still sense that something was off about this situation.

"W-where is everyone?" she asked. "Where's Agent Carter? Colonel Phillips? Howie? The Howling Commandos? Where are they?"

"They're on their way here," she answered pleasantly. "They should be along soon, I believe."

Jamie had a feeling that she was lying, but there really wasn't any way that she could prove it. The _Valkyrie_ had been a fast plane. The army easily could have found them closer to American shores than the rest of the SSR still in Austria.

She looked back over at Steve, but Steve was not looking at her or at the unknown woman. His attention was fixed firmly on the radio.

" _The Dodgers take the lead, 8-4. Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet! What a game we have here today, folks. What a game, indeed…"_

As the announcer on the radio trailed off for a moment, Steve slowly took hold of Jamie's hand. Jamie was surprised by this subtle gesture, but Steve was not looking at her. He was now focusing back on the woman, his face arranged in a cold glare.

"Where are we really?" he asked.

The woman was puzzled, but did try to smile at him and Jamie nonetheless.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," she said.

"The game," he explained, ignoring the confused look Jamie was giving him. "It's from May 1941. I know, 'cause I was there."

An alarmed look spread across the woman's face, but it was nothing compared to the look on Jamie's face. Her jaw dropped, and she began clutching Steve's hand tightly. She'd been right. They hadn't been rescued from the wreckage of the _Valkyrie_ by other members of the United States Army. Some strange Hydra division must've found them. She wasn't quite sure why they threw them into a little bedroom and not some cell like they'd done the first time they managed to capture her, but that wasn't relevant. The relevancy of the situation was that someone had captured her and Steve. Maybe it was Hydra. Maybe it wasn't. Either way, they'd still captured them.

Steve got to his feet, and gently shoved Jamie behind him in order to defend her if he had to. She didn't care. She was terrified, cowering slightly against the back wall, but inching her way to the side toward the bedside table between their beds. There was a lamp on it. A handy weapon if need be.

"Now, I'm going to ask you again," said Steve slowly, but the hostility in his voice was unmistakable. "Where are we?"

"Captain Rogers, Lieutenant Harper—" the woman began.

She was cut off by Jamie lunging for the lamp. It's power cord snapped in half from the abrupt movement, but Jamie didn't care. She held it out in front of her with both hands.

"W-who are you?!" Jamie demanded. "D-did you kidnap us?! A-are you with Hydra?!"

The door burst open, and two men dressed all in black and armed with large guns burst in. Steve and Jamie didn't hesitate for even a moment. Jamie threw the bedside lamp hard at the head of one of the guards, and he fell to the ground as Steve proceeded to kick the other one right through the wall of the room, leaving behind a large, gaping hole.

Steve didn't give Jamie a chance to protest. He simply scooped Jamie off the floor and held her to his chest as he jumped out of the room. He assumed that they were in an upper level of some building. He'd be able to jump out of here with her in his arms and land on the paving below to escape. However, he and Jamie were shocked by what they saw when he jumped out of the hole. The room that they'd been in was nothing more than a small stage inside of an even bigger room made entirely out of steel, and the views they saw outside the windows had just been stage slides.

Steve slowly let Jamie down and they stared at one another. What the hell was going on?

The woman who'd tried to speak with them started rushing to the hole, and they quickly ran to the double set of doors to this room. They'd figure out who these people were later. For now, they had to get out of here right away.

"Captain Rogers! Lieutenant Harper! Wait!" the woman shouted.

Steve and Jamie ignored her and continued running. They didn't care what she had to say. Everything other than the pocket watch dangling from Jamie's neck had been a lie.

"Steve!" said a scared Jamie. "Steve, who are these people?!"

"No clue," he answered. "They might be Hydra, but I don't know!"

They burst through the doors, and found themselves dumbfounded yet again. The hallway they had just entered was very peculiar. There were sleek ceiling-high windows running across an entire wall, and everyone that happened to be walking through the hall at the time were wearing smart suits of black, even the women which was even stranger. Some wore knee-length black skirts, but what really startled Steve and Jamie was that were also women in black pants as well. That was shocking. Women were supposed to wear either skirts or dresses. Even Jamie was wearing a nice skirt at the moment. Pants were for men, and men alone.

Heads turned when they saw Steve and Jamie burst through the doors and standing frozen while they stared in bewilderment around them. Then the people in the hallway immediately dropped whatever they were holding or were in the middle of doing at the time and began to charge straight toward the two super-soldiers. Steve was the first to snap out of his shock, and grabbed Jamie's hand to drag her along behind him as he ran in the opposite direction of the men and women running after them.

"This way, Jamie!" he shouted to his apprentice.

Jamie nodded, and assisted her mentor in ramming a man who tried to block their path out of the way.

They ran through the hallways of this strange building for almost a minute until they found a set of doors leading outside. Steve and Jamie scrambled toward them. They just had to make it to those doors, and they'd be safe. Safe from whomever these people were. They shoved them open and ran out.

It took them a couple seconds after running outside to realize that things were even stranger out here than they were inside. For starters, they had not been inside some sort of top-secret Hydra research facility, but in a building right on the sidewalk of a busy city. Or at least, they think it was a city. There were definitely people around and buildings and crowded sidewalks and cars honking, but everything looked completely different than what they should look like. People were wearing the strangest types of clothes, especially women, and they wandered casually down the sidewalks with umbrellas in hand due to the rain or their hands ladled with shopping bags. The buildings around them were insanely high, high enough to touch the clouds, and appeared to be made of steel of some kind as they flashed with jaunty electrical lights. The streets were not cobbled brick, but of some sort of other black material, and peculiar types of cars of various shapes, colors, and sizes zoomed along, repeatedly honking at Steve and Jamie because they were currently running through the middle of the road.

The shock of everything made Steve and Jamie forget all about the fact that they were currently being chased, and they came to an abrupt halt in the middle of a large square of the city. They stood there and circled around, ignoring the fact that the city pedestrians were staring at them, because their attention was fixed on the sights surrounding them. Never before had either of them seen such things, or even dreamed about them.

"Steve? Steve, what is this place?" Jamie whimpered, clinging slightly to his shirt. She was confused and scared.

Steve just shook his head but didn't answer the little girl. He had no answer, because he honest to God hadn't the slightest clue where in fuck they were.

A loud array of honking grabbed their attention, and they turned. Several large black cars with black-tinted windows were driving up to them, and out came more men in either suits or carrying weapons. This gathered the attention of the nearby pedestrians, and they tried to crowd around to look, but both sets of men in gentle but firm voices prevented them from coming to close. While Steve and Jamie did not even attempt to run away from this, as they were both too stunned by these currents events and confused as to where they were currently to move, Steve promptly shoved Jamie behind him when he saw the men.

"Stay behind me!" Steve ordered her.

Jamie frantically nodded, and clung desperately to his shirt from behind as she peeked around him. Steve could tell that she was completely terrified. This whole situation was probably making her think about her kidnapping back in January. He didn't know where the hell they were or the fuck these men are, but he'd protect Jamie. She may be his protégé, but she meant a lot more to him than just that. He wasn't quite sure how much, but he'd protect her with his life.

He raised his fists, ready to fight his way out, and took a step forward to strike the nearest man—

"At ease, soldiers!" came a voice from somewhere behind them. Steve and Jamie turned, though Steve made sure that Jamie was glued to his side before he did. There was a man climbing out of one of the vans. He had dark skin, and was wearing a very long black trench coat and a black eye-patch over one of his eyes. He seemed to be the one in charge here. He slowly walked up to the two super-soldiers.

"Who… who are you?" Jamie whimpered, but not daring to move even an inch away from Steve. Steve himself was on edge, and kept one of his arms firmly wrapped around her shoulders. If this man or any of those other men tried to separate them, he'd put up a hell of a fight.

The man seemed unperturbed by her worried tone. "Nick Fury," he answered. "Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"W-what?"

He ignored her confused question and looked up at Steve. "Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there," he told Steve, "but we thought it best to break it to both of you slowly."

Steve and Jamie exchanged puzzled, confused looks at these words before looking back at Fury. What was he talking about?

"Break what?" Steve demanded.

Fury paused for a moment before answering.

"You two've been asleep, Cap, Libby," he said. "For almost seventy years."

Steve and Jamie both stared at him for several moments, not believing their ears. Then they looked at each other again. This… this was impossible. There was no way it could be true, but when they stopped and looked around them, how could it not? They were currently standing before a man neither of them had ever met before, and also in the middle of a street of a busy city they could never have dreamed could exist.

They were alone now. There was no more Agent Carter. No more Colonel Phillips. No more Howard. No more of the Howling Commandos. Everything that had existed of their old life was gone. Indeed, the only people they had left anymore were each other.

Fury seemed to be able to read their minds.

"You two gonna be okay?" he asked the young man and little girl standing before him.

"Yeah," said Steve, although his expression told all those watching otherwise. "Yeah, I just… I had a date…"

"I… I don't know," said Jamie slowly, kicking at the ground a bit as she spoke. "It's just… I thought I'd finally see my family again…"


End file.
